Tokyo said on Friday that Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will visit China next week for the first time since she took office, attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Shenzhen, AFP reported.
Source: AFP via HK Businesswire
"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," deputy chief cabinet secretary Masanao Ozaki said. Before the Shenzhen trip she will head to Manila for a meeting of the 11-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
At APEC, Ozaki said Takaichi — who became Japan's leader last October — would discuss issues such as "trade and investment, regional economic integration, economic and energy resilience, the digital economy … and present Japan's position on these matters".
Ozaki said a Quad meeting — which would include the leaders of Australia, India, Japan and the United States — is being arranged on the sidelines of the ASEAN meeting. In a policy address last month, Takaichi called China an "important neighbour" and pledged to build a stable relationship, AFP reported.
Why a Xi meeting looks unlikely
A formal meeting between Takaichi and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Shenzhen summit appears to have fallen through, Kyodo News reported on November 11, citing multiple sources on China-Japan relations, the Seoul Economic Daily reported. A Chinese source told Kyodo that Japan would be the only major participating country whose leader does not hold talks with Xi.
According to Kyodo, China has rejected Japanese requests for formal dialogue in protest at Takaichi's remarks last November suggesting Tokyo could intervene in a Taiwan contingency, and Beijing has kept up pressure by reinstating a ban on imports of Japanese seafood and imposing export controls on strategic materials such as rare earths. Asked whether Xi would meet Takaichi, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun gave no direct answer, saying China as APEC host "stands ready to work with all countries to ensure the complete success of the APEC China Year".
Kyodo said Tokyo plans to keep pushing until the last minute to arrange a meeting with Xi, but that the prevailing view is that seeking a brief handshake or short encounter is the realistic option for now. The Mainichi Shimbun reported that Tokyo has also conveyed concerns to Washington over a possible US-China-Russia summit on the sidelines of APEC, the Seoul Economic Daily reported.
The Shenzhen stage
The APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting is set for November 18 and 19, preceded by an annual summit of CEOs on November 17-18, Reuters reported in an explainer on the summit. APEC's 21 member economies account for about 62 percent of global GDP and roughly half of global trade. China is hosting for the third time, after Shanghai in 2001 and Beijing in 2014.
Source: Reuters explainer, Nov 13, 2026
US President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. are among those expected in Shenzhen, along with the leaders of Canada, Australia, Mexico, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea and Vietnam, Reuters reported. Tokyo said on Friday that Takaichi will attend, and New Zealand also confirmed on Friday that Prime Minister Christopher Luxon would attend. Taiwan has designated Acer founder Stan Shih as its envoy.
What happens next: Takaichi's team keeps working for at least a handshake with Xi before the leaders gather on November 18, while the summit itself will test whether the possible Trump-Xi-Putin meeting overshadows a host-country snub of the Japanese leader — a chill analysts quoted by Kyodo suggest could be prolonged.