China's top diplomat raises Taiwan with former Japanese FM

China's top diplomat said ties with Tokyo were "waiting to be normalised again" as he met a former Japanese foreign minister who was leading a trade delegation in Beijing.

Diplomatic tensions have been heightened between the Asian economic giants since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggested in November 2025 that Tokyo may intervene in an attack on the island of Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its territory.

China in response warned its citizens against travel to Japan, and imposed trade restrictions that have reportedly led to big drops in supplies of vital rare earth minerals to Japanese firms.

Takeshi Iwaya was in China leading a delegation of some 50 business leaders to promote bilateral trade, which has been hit by restrictions and fees since last November.

He met with Wang Yi on Monday, according to a foreign ministry readout, where the Chinese foreign minister told him that the "current China-Japan relationship is once more facing a grave situation, and is waiting to be normalised again".

"For the Japanese side, the most urgent task is to correct the erroneous remarks and actions of the country's leaders on the Taiwan question," Wang said according to his ministry.

Iwaya's trip to Beijing comes a month after a group of sitting Japanese lawmakers made little headway during a visit to the Chinese capital seeking to patch up ties.

Before leaving Haneda Airport in Tokyo on Sunday, Iwaya told reporters: "Because these are difficult times, it is important to seek paths to improvement through dialogue" and said he would do "everything I can".

Iwaya -- who was foreign minister until October 2025 -- remains an influential voice within Japan's conservative Liberal Democratic Party, although some party members have criticised him for being soft on China.

The Japanese government said it was "aware" of the announcement from the Chinese side, and said it "relates to the activities of a private economic organisation".

"Having said that, precisely because there are pending issues and differences of opinion between Japan and China, we believe it is important to maintain communication at various levels across a wide range of fields between our two countries," said government spokesman Minoru Kihara.

In December 2024, Iwaya as a sitting foreign minister visited Wang in Beijing, and agreed to relax visa rules for Chinese tourists after Beijing took a similar step for Japanese visitors.

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