Ishiba pens letter to Xi as Japan aims to avoid trade crossfire

A stall sells tuna sushi sets at Tsukiji market in Tokyo Thursday, April 10, 2025. Beijing has banned seafood exports from Japan in response to Tokyo’s release of mildly radioactive wastewater from the wrecked Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant into the ocean. - AP

TOKYO: A high-level Japanese delegation will deliver a letter from Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba to Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week, as Tokyo strives to avoid getting caught in the crossfire of escalating trade friction between China and the US.

Tetsuo Saito, the chief of the ruling party’s junior coalition partner Komeito, will deliver the letter during a three-day visit from Tuesday (April 22) to meet with Liu Jianchao, the head of the International Department of the Chinese Communist Party, among other dignitaries.