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Japanese Lawmakers Travel to Beijing, Seeking to Mend Ties After Takaichi’s Taiwan Remark Fallout

Chinese and Japanese flags flutter in front of the Tiananmen Gate ahead of Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit, in Beijing, China October 25, 2018. (Reuters)
Chinese and Japanese flags flutter in front of the Tiananmen Gate ahead of Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit, in Beijing, China October 25, 2018. (Reuters)
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Japanese Lawmakers Travel to Beijing, Seeking to Mend Ties After Takaichi’s Taiwan Remark Fallout

Chinese and Japanese flags flutter in front of the Tiananmen Gate ahead of Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit, in Beijing, China October 25, 2018. (Reuters)
Chinese and Japanese flags flutter in front of the Tiananmen Gate ahead of Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit, in Beijing, China October 25, 2018. (Reuters)

A cross-party group of Japanese lawmakers, including one from Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's governing party, headed to Beijing on Monday to meet with Chinese officials for the first time since ties between the two Asian rivals deteriorated after Takaichi's comment on Taiwan angered China.

Japan seeks a chance to mend its strained ties with China as tensions have spilled over into the economy.

The group, which includes Gaku Hashimoto, a lawmaker of Takaichi's governing Liberal Democratic Party and a former health and welfare vice minister, and a lawmaker each from two opposition parties Komeito and the Centrist Reform Alliance, is to meet with Chinese Communist Party officials during their visit through Thursday.

"Communication has been severed in all areas and we are beginning to see their impact in many areas,” Shinichi Isa, a top spokesperson for the CRA party, told reporters before leaving Tokyo's Haneda airport. “I hope we can somehow find a clue to restart a dialogue.”

Isa, who has served as a diplomat at the Japanese Embassy in China, wrote on X earlier this month that bilateral ties have sunk to their worst since the 1972 normalization of relations.

He wrote that officials had always remained in communication even during previous lows: “Now all channels between officials and ministries have been cut off.”

The situation is not in the national interest of either side, Isa said at the time, and the Chinese side accepted a request from Japanese lawmakers for a “window for dialogue.”

Soon after taking office, Takaichi said a Chinese attack on Taiwan could constitute “a survival-threatening situation” for Japan that would justify the use of force, enraging Beijing.

The remark crossed what China considers a red line in its relations with other countries about Taiwan, which is a self-governing island that Beijing claims as its territory.

Takaichi has not retracted her comment, but when marking Japan's World War II surrender on Aug. 15, she prayed remotely instead of visiting the controversial Yasukuni Shrine, seen by China and South Korea as lacking remorse for Japan's wartime militarism and atrocities.

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World

France Apologizes for UN Diplomatic Spat with Washington

11 September 2026, US, New York: France's Permanent Representative to the UN, Jerome Bonnafont, speaks during a UN Security Council meeting marking the 25th anniversary of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks and examining the evolving global terrorist threat and international efforts to counter terrorism. Photo: Bianca Otero/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
11 September 2026, US, New York: France's Permanent Representative to the UN, Jerome Bonnafont, speaks during a UN Security Council meeting marking the 25th anniversary of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks and examining the evolving global terrorist threat and international efforts to counter terrorism. Photo: Bianca Otero/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
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France Apologizes for UN Diplomatic Spat with Washington

11 September 2026, US, New York: France's Permanent Representative to the UN, Jerome Bonnafont, speaks during a UN Security Council meeting marking the 25th anniversary of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks and examining the evolving global terrorist threat and international efforts to counter terrorism. Photo: Bianca Otero/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
11 September 2026, US, New York: France's Permanent Representative to the UN, Jerome Bonnafont, speaks during a UN Security Council meeting marking the 25th anniversary of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks and examining the evolving global terrorist threat and international efforts to counter terrorism. Photo: Bianca Otero/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

The French UN mission said it regretted an online post criticizing how the United States voted during a UN General Assembly meeting, with US officials telling AFP on Saturday that Washington appreciated the statement.

France's permanent mission to the UN published the apology Friday, saying it regretted a post on X criticizing the United States' commitment to human rights.

"France and the United States recently took different positions on a vote at the United Nations General Assembly. This difference concerned one vote, and not the defense of human rights," the mission said in an English statement on its website.

"Public differences of opinion on one vote do not stand in the way of close dialogue with the United States, and do not call into question our historical alliance, nor our ability to work together to advance peace, stability and prosperity, including within multilateral forums," the statement continued.

The mea culpa was well-received by Washington, which has been holding up the appointment of France's next US ambassador as a result of the dispute.

"We note and appreciate France's statement and look forward to working together to further shared values and interests," a US State Department official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The US State Department has held up the approval of Aurelien Lechevallier, French President Emmanuel Macron's choice as France's next envoy to Washington, replacing Laurent Bili.

Lechevallier is currently French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot's chief of staff.

US approval of a choice of French envoy is usually a formality but has remained in limbo since the dispute.

On July 24, the United States was one of 10 countries to vote in the UN General Assembly against extending Volker Turk's term as UN human rights chief, joining the ranks of North Korea, Russia and Nicaragua, among others.

"The US used to be a beacon of human rights. Not anymore," the French mission wrote in a post on X after the United States strongly opposed another term by Turk, who has repeatedly questioned US policies under President Donald Trump.

The criticism was met with immediate backlash from Washington, with the US representative walking out of a UN Security Council meeting days later when France's ambassador took the floor, in protest of the comments.

World

Kremlin Not Ruling Out Return to Talks with Ukraine in October

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov waits before a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Vietnamese President To Lam (both not pictured) at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, 09 September 2026. To Lam is on a three-day state visit to Russia.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov waits before a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Vietnamese President To Lam (both not pictured) at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, 09 September 2026. To Lam is on a three-day state visit to Russia.
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Kremlin Not Ruling Out Return to Talks with Ukraine in October

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov waits before a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Vietnamese President To Lam (both not pictured) at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, 09 September 2026. To Lam is on a three-day state visit to Russia.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov waits before a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Vietnamese President To Lam (both not pictured) at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, 09 September 2026. To Lam is on a three-day state visit to Russia.

Three-way negotiations with Ukraine and the United States on ending Europe's worst conflict since World War II could take place in October, the Kremlin said on Sunday, according to Russian agencies.

"We do not rule out such a possibility; we are talking about the foreseeable future," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists, cited by Russia's Ria and Tass news agencies.

World

Macron, Carney to Visit French Islands After Trump’s Map Post

French President Emmanuel Macron looks on prior to welcoming Rwanda's President Paul Kagame (not pictured) upon his arrival at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, 11 September 2026. (EPA)
French President Emmanuel Macron looks on prior to welcoming Rwanda's President Paul Kagame (not pictured) upon his arrival at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, 11 September 2026. (EPA)
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Macron, Carney to Visit French Islands After Trump’s Map Post

French President Emmanuel Macron looks on prior to welcoming Rwanda's President Paul Kagame (not pictured) upon his arrival at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, 11 September 2026. (EPA)
French President Emmanuel Macron looks on prior to welcoming Rwanda's President Paul Kagame (not pictured) upon his arrival at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, 11 September 2026. (EPA)

The leaders of France and Canada will next week visit France's North Atlantic territory of Saint-Pierre-and-Miquelon to underscore their support for national borders in the face of Donald Trump's territorial ambitions, Paris said Sunday.

The US president on Monday posted an image to social media with a map of North America in which Canada, Greenland and Mexico, much of central America and the Caribbean, as well as Iceland, were colored in with the US flag.

The image also encompassed several French overseas territories, such as Saint-Pierre-and-Miquelon, Guadeloupe and Martinique.

French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will make a symbolic visit to Saint-Pierre-and-Miquelon to underscore that their countries share "the same values of freedom, democracy, the rule of law and respect for the sovereignty of nations", the Elysee said.

Macron was set to visit the territory on September 19-21, with Carney joining the French leader on September 20.

"In a world marked by the return of power politics, geopolitical tensions and new forms of dependency, France and Canada share a common ambition: to work together, and with all countries that share these values, to strengthen their capacity to make decisions and act independently," the Elysee said.

The three islands of the archipelago of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, located about 20 kilometers (12 miles) off Canada's Atlantic coast, is home to around 6,000 people.

Macron will stop there on his way to New York, where he is due to attend the UN General Assembly.

It would be the first official visit by a Canadian prime minister to the archipelago, the French presidency said.

The territory has previously been the scene of tensions with the United States during World War II, when France was under German occupation.

In 1941, General Charles de Gaulle's Free French forces seized Saint-Pierre and Miquelon from the collaborationist Vichy regime, despite opposition from US President Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration, which had sought to maintain existing arrangements with Marshal Philippe Petain's government.

The last visit by a French president to the strategically located islands, some 4,300 kilometers from mainland France, was by Francois Hollande in 2014.

Macron is also set to address climate change affecting the territory.

The village of Miquelon has started moving inland to escape the growing threat of sea-level rise, in what is widely regarded as France's first climate-driven community relocation.