China, Japan officials meet amid Taiwan tensions

Japan issued diplomatic protests over China’s firing of missiles into its exclusive economic zone during the drills, which saw Chinese warplanes and navy ships cross the middle zone of the Taiwan Strait that has long been a buffer between the sides.

Chinese and Japanese officials have met in northern China amid renewed tensions over Beijing's military threats against Taiwan and after Tokyo protested China's firing of missiles into Japan's exclusive economic zone during recent military drills.

The meeting on August 17 between senior foreign affairs advisor Yang Jiechi and the head of Japan’s National Security Secretariat, Akiba Takeo, followed China’s cancellation of a meeting between the Foreign Ministers of the two countries after Japan signed on to a statement from the Group of Seven industrialised countries criticising China’s threatening war games surrounding Taiwan earlier this month.

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Japan issued diplomatic protests over China’s firing of missiles into its exclusive economic zone during the drills, which saw Chinese warplanes and navy ships cross the middle zone of the Taiwan Strait that has long been a buffer between the sides.

China claims Taiwan as its own territory, to be annexed by force if necessary. The former Japanese colony has been under Chinese military threat since Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist government fled to the island in 1949 as Mao Zedong's Communist Party seized control of the Chinese mainland.

In his comments to Mr. Takeo, Yang said “the Taiwan question bears on the political foundation of China-Japan relations and the basic trust and good faith between the two countries," China's official Xinhua News Agency reported on Thursday.

“Japan should ... shape up a right perception of China, pursue a positive, pragmatic and rational China policy, and uphold the right direction of peaceful development," Xinhua quoted Yang as saying.