AdvertisementChina-Japan relationsChinaDiplomacy
Japan lawmakers to visit China in bid to cool row, but thaw unlikely: experts
4-MIN READ4-MIN Listen
Orange WangPublished: 9:00am, 21 Aug 2026Updated: 9:18am, 21 Aug 2026A reported trip to China next week by a cross-party group of Japanese lawmakers could carry “pronounced” symbolic weight but is unlikely to herald a thaw in ties between the two neighbours, Chinese experts suggest.
For the first time since bilateral relations succumbed to a bitter chill 10 months ago, a delegation of Japan’s parliamentary members will visit Beijing from August 24 to 27, according to reports by multiple Japanese outlets on Wednesday.
Those legislators – including some from the lower chamber of Japan’s National Diet such as Gaku Hashimoto from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and Shinichi Isa of the main opposition Centrist Reform Alliance (CRA) – were in talks to confirm meetings with officials from the Communist Party’s diplomatic arm, the reports noted.
Japanese PM ‘open’ to talks with China
Their travel would mark a “semi-official” diplomatic effort through a non-core executive channel by a fraction of the Japanese lawmakers who advocated maintaining communication with China, said Xu Weijun, an associate research professor at the Institute of Public Policy (IPP) at South China University of Technology in Guangzhou.
Although Hashimoto is the only identified member from the ruling party in the delegation, he is not in Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s cabinet and does not hold a key foreign policy role, according to Xu, who added that Hashimoto was considered to have a relatively friendly stance towards China.
There was no public information indicating that Takaichi’s office, Japan’s foreign ministry or the LDP leadership had issued a formal mandate for the reported delegation, Xu said.
“This visit is more about crisis management and does not mean that China-Japan relations are about to thaw.”
AdvertisementSelect VoiceSelect Speed00:0000:001.00x