Japan’s foreign ministry announced Monday that it had called on its Chinese equivalent to fix its website’s “factually incorrect” account of a meeting between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
A line in the Chinese foreign ministry’s statement—published on March 21 after Wang met with Ishiba on the eve of the 11th South Korea–Japan–China Foreign Ministers’ Meeting—implies that Japan’s prime minister said he “respects” China’s position on an array of issues, a statement that Tokyo said was never made.
The Japanese ministry noted that it “protested to the Chinese side” and asked them to “immediately delete” the claim. “It is regrettable that such [a] factually incorrect statement was issued,” it added.
Japan pointed out that contrary to the Chinese foreign ministry’s claims, “Ishiba emphasized the need to reduce concerns and issues between Japan and China” and made reference to the East China Sea, the safety of Japanese citizens jailed in China, import restrictions on Japanese marine and agricultural products but that “Prime Minister Ishiba did not make the statement as claimed by the Chinese side.”
According to the Chinese account of the meeting, Wang urged Japan to “fulfill important political commitments” on historical issues and Taiwan, a self-ruled island that Beijing claims as its own territory.
Japan and South Korea’s Version of Events
Japan and South Korea, or the Republic of Korea (ROK) reported that Japan’s Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya and his South Korean counterpart, Cho Tae-yeol, attended the March 21 meeting between Wang and Ishiba.The South Korean foreign ministry parroted this account. In a press release on the same day, the South Korean foreign ministry said that Ishiba hoped “for the establishment of a future-oriented cooperative relationship with South Korea and China, which are very important neighboring countries.”
It went on to say that Ishiba called for “meaningful discussions” that would “promote trilateral cooperation.”
Notably, South Korea’s version stipulates that Ishiba had a separate meeting between himself and Cho, in which he called for continuing cooperation between his country, South Korea, and the United States.
“In addition, in the subsequent solo visit, Prime Minister Ishiba emphasized that the importance of the Japan–ROK and Japan–U.S.–ROK relations remains unchanged under the current strategic environment, and called for continued cooperation to maintain and develop bilateral relations based on mutual trust and respect,” the South Korean ministry said, referring to South Korea’s official name, the Republic of Korea.
The South Korean foreign minister noted that Japan and his own country cannot expect “the other side to change” and should “do their best to promote Korea–Japan relations and Korea–U.S.–Japan cooperation.”
