Photo/Illutration Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba leaves Haneda Airport on Nov. 14 to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Lima. (Kazuhiro Nagashima)

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to reaffirm the policy to advance the “strategic and mutually beneficial relationship” between their countries in their first meeting on Nov. 15, government sources said.

However, Ishiba plans to convey “serious concerns” to Xi about China’s military activities, such as its military aircraft breaching Japanese airspace in August, and tensions over the disputed Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, the sources said on Nov. 14.

The two leaders are scheduled to meet in Lima on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit taking place on Nov. 15 and 16.

Ishiba and Xi are expected to confirm that their countries share a broad direction to build a “constructive and stable relationship,” the sources said.

They are also expected to confirm that Japan and China will maintain the principles and the shared awareness included in the four basic documents concluded between the two countries and will build a relationship that allows for candid conversations.

The four basic documents include the Japan-China Joint Communique issued by Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka and Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai in 1972.

Ishiba and Xi are also expected to agree that their countries will work together to “reduce challenges and concerns” and “increase cooperation and collaboration,” the sources said.

The policy to comprehensively advance the strategic and mutually beneficial relationship, in which the two countries will cooperate over their common interests, has been a pillar of Japan’s China policy since it was first laid out in 2006.

Ishiba’s predecessor, Fumio Kishida, reaffirmed the policy during his meeting with Xi in San Francisco in November last year.

Ishiba, who also confirmed the policy when he met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang in October, will make it clear that his administration intends to adhere to the policy during the meeting with Xi.

Additionally, Ishiba and Xi are expected to agree to arrange for their foreign ministers to visit each other’s countries and realize high-level dialogue on interpersonal and cultural exchanges as well as economic talks, the sources said.

In addition to expressing regional security concerns, Ishiba plans to call for China to quickly resume importing Japanese seafood during the meeting, the sources said.

In September, China agreed to ease the blanket import ban on Japanese seafood it imposed when Japan began discharging treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean in August last year.

Ishiba also plans to request that China soon reopen government discussions about resuming Japan’s beef exports to China and expanding its polished rice exports.

In response to the stabbing death of a Japanese school pupil in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen in September, Ishiba plans to call for increased security measures to alleviate anxiety among Japanese expatriates in China.

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