China Dispatches Foreign Ministry Director to Japan Following Korea-Japan Summit

China is understood to have dispatched a bureau-level diplomatic official to Japan to discuss bilateral relations shortly after the Korea-Japan summit held in Seoul on the 7th.

According to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, Liu Jin-song, Director of the Asian Affairs Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, visited Japan from the 9th to the 10th and held working consultations with Takehiro Funakoshi, Director of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Ryu Jin-sung, President of the Asian Affairs Department at the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (right in the photo), and Funakoshi, Director of the Asia-Oceania Bureau at the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (left in the photo)

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated, "We had frank and in-depth exchanges of views on bilateral relations and other mutual concerns."

During his visit to Japan, Director Liu also paid a courtesy call on Shigeo Yamada, Deputy Director-General (equivalent to Vice Minister), and held a roundtable discussion with Japanese experts.

The timing of China dispatching Director Liu to Japan, coming after the Korea-Japan summit and ahead of the trilateral summit among South Korea, the United States, and Japan to be held during the Hiroshima G7 summit, has attracted attention.

Some speculate that China may have sent this signal to gauge the Korea-Japan or Korea-US-Japan cooperation situation while conveying its concerns.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.