Takaichi to make first China trip as PM, with Quad leaders' meeting planned in Manila

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will visit China next week for the first time since taking office. Tokyo said on Friday (Nov 13) that a meeting of Quad leaders, including Australia's, is being arranged during the same trip, CNA and The Straits Times reported. The Straits Times carried an AFP report.

Deputy chief cabinet secretary Masanao Ozaki said Takaichi would visit the Philippines and China from November 16 to 19 to attend ASEAN-related summit meetings and the APEC summit in Shenzhen. She will stop first in Manila for a meeting of the 11-nation ASEAN. Ozaki said a Quad meeting with the leaders of Australia, India, Japan and the United States is being arranged on its sidelines.

At APEC, Ozaki said, Takaichi would discuss issues including "trade and investment, regional economic integration, economic and energy resilience, the digital economy" and set out Japan's position on them.

The trip comes as relations between Tokyo and Beijing are particularly fraught. In November 2025, a month after becoming prime minister, Takaichi suggested Japan may intervene in any attack on Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its territory. China reacted furiously. It warned its citizens against travelling to Japan and imposed trade restrictions that have reportedly led to big drops in supplies of rare earth minerals to Japanese firms.

Any interaction with Chinese President Xi Jinping will be closely watched. Analysts quoted in both reports said a bilateral summit between the two leaders was very unlikely.

In a policy address in October, Takaichi called China an "important neighbour" and pledged to build a stable relationship. She also said Japan would "firmly assert our country's positions" and "strongly call for responsible behaviour".

Beijing has refused to hold ministerial talks with Takaichi's government. However, when former Japanese prime minister Yasuo Fukuda died in October, Xi sent a condolence message to his family describing him as "a long-time friend of the Chinese people", the outlets reported.

In September, China's top diplomat Wang Yi said ties with Tokyo were "waiting to be normalised again" when he met former Japanese foreign minister Takeshi Iwaya, who was leading a trade delegation in Beijing.

Takaichi's trip begins in Manila on November 16. She will then travel to Shenzhen for APEC before the visit ends on November 19.

Sources: CNA, Japan's Sanae Takaichi to attend APEC in first China trip as PM; The Straits Times, Takaichi to attend APEC in first China trip as Japan PM.