lørdag 7. mars 2020

Last time a Chinese leader delayed a Japan trip, it didn't end well

Ending weeks of speculation amid the global spread of the novel coronavirus, Japan on Thursday announced that Chinese President Xi Jinping will postpone a state visit to Japan planned for early April. China made the painful decision after its top diplomat, Politburo member Yang Jiechi, visited Japan on Friday and Saturday to review the coronavirus situation with his Japanese counterparts as well as to discuss what to do next.

The difficulty of an April visit has been clear for a while. The natural course would have been for Beijing to have notified Tokyo weeks earlier that under the circumstances there was no choice but to reconsider Xi's travel schedule so China could focus all efforts on fighting the virus and protecting the lives and safety of its people.