Japan’s Takaichi to Visit China for First Time as Prime Minister for Shenzhen APEC Summit
Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will visit China next week for the first time since taking office, attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Shenzhen, Tokyo confirmed on Friday.
The trip, from 16 to 19 November, will take her first to the Philippines for meetings linked to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and then to China for the APEC leaders’ gathering on 18 and 19 November. Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Masanao Ozaki announced the itinerary, saying Takaichi would use the summit to set out Japan’s position on trade and investment, regional economic integration, economic and energy resilience, and the digital economy.
It is a visit freighted with symbolism. Takaichi became prime minister in October 2025, and in the year since, Japan’s relationship with China has sunk to one of its lowest points since the two countries normalised relations in 1972.
A first visit after a year of frost
Relations soured after Takaichi said last November that a Chinese move against Taiwan could pose an existential risk to Japan, suggesting Tokyo could intervene in a Taiwan contingency. Beijing responded by halting imports of Japanese seafood, imposing export restrictions and advising its citizens against travel and study in Japan.
The chill has been visible in the numbers as well as the diplomacy. Chinese visitor numbers to Japan fell by 56 per cent between January and August this year compared with the same period a year earlier, and the two leaders have met only once since Takaichi took office — in contrast to the nine meetings she has held with US President Donald Trump.
The Xi question
The central uncertainty hanging over the trip is whether Takaichi will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is chairing the APEC gathering. Kyodo News reported this week, citing sources familiar with China–Japan relations, that a formal bilateral meeting appears to have fallen through, which would leave Japan as the only major participating country whose leader does not hold talks with Xi.
Tokyo has continued pushing for at least a brief encounter. Japanese officials have sought assurances that Xi will give Takaichi the customary handshake at the summit, and have said they would object to any unusual reception. China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun gave no direct answer when asked this week whether Xi would meet Takaichi, saying only that China, as host of APEC 2026, would work with all parties to ensure the success of the gathering.
There is precedent for a handshake thawing a freeze. The last time China hosted APEC, in 2014, Xi shook hands with then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during another period of strained relations — though that meeting rested on groundwork laid months in advance, something largely absent this time.
Manila first, then Shenzhen
Before arriving in China, Takaichi will attend ASEAN-related meetings in Manila, where a meeting of the Quad — the leaders of Australia, India, Japan and the United States — is being arranged on the sidelines, according to Ozaki. It would be the first gathering of Quad leaders since Mr Trump began his second term in January 2025.
She is also expected to take part in a summit under the Japan-led Asia Zero Emission Community framework during the Philippines stop.
Why Washington is watching
The trip matters beyond Tokyo and Beijing. Japan is America’s closest ally in Asia, and the state of Japan–China relations shapes the security picture across the region, from Taiwan to the South China Sea. A cold reception in Shenzhen would underline how far the two neighbours have drifted; even a brief handshake would signal that both sides still see value in keeping a channel open.
For Takaichi, the stakes are personal as well as political. She arrives in China as a leader who has staked her reputation on a firmer line towards Beijing, and she will return to Tokyo judged on whether that firmness bought Japan respect — or simply isolation.
