TOKYO: Masakazu Tokura, chairman of the Japan Business Federation, or Keidanren, said Monday that arrangements are underway for him and other Japanese business leaders to visit China in January next year.

It would be the first visit to China since September 2019 by a business mission comprising representatives of Keidanren, the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Japan-China Economic Association.

Tokura told a press conference that the planned trip “counts for a great deal” as Japan-China relations are deteriorating after Japan late last month began releasing into the sea treated water containing radioactive tritium from Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.’s crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, the site of the March 2011 triple meltdown.

The Japanese business mission will include Tokura, Kosei Shindo, chairman of the Japan-China Economic Association and chairman of Nippon Steel Corp., and Ken Kobayashi, chairman of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The mission is seeking to visit China from Jan. 23 to 26 to hold talks with senior Chinese government officials, including Premier Li Qiang, as well as business people, according to sources familiar with the matter.

“I have high hopes for the Japanese-Chinese dialogue, especially at a time when the two sides are at odds over the treated water,” Tokura said.

Meanwhile, Tokura noted that China’s blanket ban on imports of Japanese aquatic products, introduced in response to the start of the treated water release, was “extremely regrettable.”

The Keidanren chief called on member companies of the biggest Japanese business lobby to support the fisheries industry by actively serving domestic fishery products at corporate cafeterias and business meetings.

He also urged the government to promptly resolve the current situation through diplomatic efforts.

JIJI PRESS