Agence France-Presse, China’s defense minister started the first such visit to Japan in more than nine years Aug. 29 as the Asian giants work to repair their rocky relations.
Defense affairs have been a key impediment in relations between the two countries, with Japan repeatedly joining the U.S. in voicing concern about China’s rapidly growing military budget.
Cao Gangchuan flew to Tokyo for a two-day visit in which he will meet with his counterpart Masahiko Komura, who took office Aug. 27 in a cabinet reshuffle by embattled Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, officials said.
The general’s visit to Japan was the first by a Chinese defense minister since Feburary 1998, before relations between Tokyo and Beijing turned icy under former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
Koizumi drew China’s ire by annually visiting the controversial Yasukuni shrine, which honors war dead along with war criminals who led Japan’s militarism in Asia.
China refused all summits with Koizumi and cited the shrine dispute to scuttle Japan’s top foreign policy goal of a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council.
Abe has tried to mend strained ties. He made a fence-mending visit to China immediately after taking office last September.
Cao was expected to tour a major Japanese naval base near Tokyo and an army training ground, a Japanese defense ministry official said.
The two defense ministers may also discuss launching a hot line between the two nations amid Japan’s concerns over China’s military buildup, Japanese media said.
China has said it will boost military spending by 17.8 percent this year and in January became only the third nation to shoot down an object in space.
