TOKYO, Nov 13 — Japan said today that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi would visit China next week for the first time since she took office last year, attending an Asia-Pacific summit in Shenzhen.
The trip comes at a time of particularly fraught relations between the rival nations after Takaichi suggested in November last year that Japan may intervene in any attack on the island of Taiwan, which China claims as its territory.
“Prime Minister Takaichi is scheduled to visit the Philippines and China from November 16 to 19 to attend Asean-related summit meetings and the APEC summit,” said deputy chief cabinet secretary Masanao Ozaki.
The visit to China will be her first since becoming prime minister in October last year.
