Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit to Japan in April will likely be postponed due to the spread of the new coronavirus, which shows no sign of abating.
Yang Jiechi, China's top diplomat, arrived in Tokyo on Friday and discussed the situation with top Japanese officials.
The move comes as Beijing feels that the coronavirus epidemic has made it nearly impossible to ensure the visit goes smoothly. Instead, the two countries will prioritize the fight to contain the epidemic and reschedule the visit -- the first by a Chinese president since 2008.
Xi's visit is planned to showcase improved Sino-Japanese relations, broadcasting to the world a "new era" in bilateral ties. But the coronavirus outbreak, which originated in China and has since spread across the globe, has curtailed preparatory meetings between the countries that are needed to ensure the proceedings go off without a hitch.
Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi told a lower house budget committee that the summit will have to yield "satisfactory results," as it is the first such meeting in more than a decade.
The Chinese leadership led by Xi, who doubles as general secretary of the Communist Party, makes improved relations with Japan a top priority, especially in light of tensions with America over trade and other issues.
Even after the coronavirus outbreak became a global emergency, Beijing did all it could to arrange the visit. But infections and deaths continue to skyrocket, and the epidemic is expected to steamroll the Chinese economy. Hence, Beijing fears the bad optics of Xi being feted abroad while the public struggles at home.
On Feb. 24, Beijing also postponed the annual National People's Congress, which was scheduled to open on March 5 -- a telling move under the circumstances, considering that the meeting has convened on that date since 1998. Before then, the Congress failed to meet a number of times during the Mao-inspired cultural revolution from 1966 to 1976.
Beijing will await a sufficient resolution to the coronavirus crisis before setting the date for Xi's visit, after which it will determine a new date for the Congress.
Coronavirus cases are also increasing in Japan, with the government trying hard to cap them in the run-up to the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. This has led officials to question the wisdom of accepting a large Chinese delegation.
During Xi's visit, Japan and China also want to strengthen partnerships in third-country markets and promote cooperation in the environment, medicine and nursing care. The countries hope to unveil a "new era" in bilateral relations, which were put to the test in 2012 after Japan nationalized the Senkaku Islands in Okinawa Prefecture. The islands -- a group of small uninhabited islets in the East China Sea -- are known as the Diaoyu Islands in China.
But over the past few years, diplomatic visits have resumed at a brisk pace. In May 2018, Li Keqiang visited Japan, becoming the first Chinese premier to do so in seven years. Later that year in October, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe paid an official visit to China, the first such visit by a Japanese premier in about seven years, excluding those for international conferences.
In 2019, Xi returned the favor by going to Osaka for the Group of 20 summit in June, while Abe again trekked to China in December.
Relations between Japan and China are still tense over security issues, including the East China Sea, so the Chinese president's visit is much anticipated by both sides. Xi has said that China will "aggressively build constructive security relations" with Japan.
Japan has tried to resolve the issue of official Chinese ships intruding into Japanese territorial waters around the Senkakus, as well as sort out joint development of natural gas fields in the East China Sea.
This will not be the first time a Chinese president's visit to Japan has been postponed. In September 1998, then-President Jiang Zemin was scheduled to arrive in Japan, but was delayed until November due to serious floods at home.
