Chinese president offers condolences over death of Japan’s Abe
Japan’s longest serving modern leader was gunned down on Friday in the Japanese city of Nara while making a campaign speech for a parliamentary election
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday offered his condolences on the death of former prime minister Shinzo Abe, calling it “sudden” and “unfortunate”, and recollecting the Japanese leader’s efforts to improve “China-Japan relations” when he was in office.
Japan’s longest serving modern era leader was assassinated on Friday in the Japanese city of Nara while giving a parliamentary election campaign speech. A 41-year-old Japanese male suspect was arrested from the spot, Reuters reported.
“President Xi Jinping sent a message of [condolence] to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on the passing of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on July 9,” the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement.
Separately, Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan sent a message of condolence to Abe’s widow, Akie Abe.
Xi extended “deep condolences” on the “sudden and unfortunate” death of Abe on “behalf of the Chinese government and people and in his own name” and expressed sympathies to Abe’s family.
Xi said Abe made “efforts to improve China-Japan relations when he was in office and contributed positively to this [endeavour].”
The Chinese President said he had reached “important common understanding with Abe on building a China-Japan relationship that meets the needs of the new era.”
Xi said he is ready to work with Prime Minister Kishida to continue to develop a China-Japan relationship of “[good-neighbourliness], friendship and cooperation in accordance with the principles of the four China-Japan political documents.”
A territorial dispute over a group of East China Sea islands and the history of Japan’s past military aggression on China have weighed on the ties between the countries despite robust trade ties.
China was furious earlier this year after Abe had said that it was time for the US to make clear that it would defend Taiwan from a Chinese invasion and ditch its longstanding strategic ambiguity.
China-Japan relations involve a number of old and new problems, a senior Chinese diplomat said in June, adding that the difficulties and challenges faced by bilateral ties should not be ignored.
Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs, made the remark in a phone conversation with Takeo Akiba, secretary-general of Japan’s National Security Secretariat.
Noting that China-Japan relations have reached an important point in history, with 2022 marking the 50th anniversary of the normalisation of diplomatic ties between the two countries, Yang, was quoted by state-run China Daily newspaper that said China and Japan must stay on the right track, adhere to win-win cooperation, take a long-term perspective and enhance mutual trust on security.
