China Urges Japan to Relax COVID-19 Border Controls

Tokyo, Feb. 3 (Jiji Press)--Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang urged his Japanese counterpart, Yoshimasa Hayashi, in their telephone talks Thursday night to relax Japan's COVID-19 border controls on China, Hayashi revealed at a press conference Friday.

According to Hayashi, he told Qin that Japan will maintain its current measures for the time being but will respond flexibly to the COVID-19 situation in China.

The Chinese minister reiterated Beijing's invitation for Hayashi to visit China, which was agreed on at a summit between the two countries in November. Hayashi replied that he will continue coordination to set a specific schedule.

The telephone talks were the first between Hayashi and Qin since the Chinese minister was appointed late last year.

At a separate news conference on Friday, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno noted that the Hayashi-Qin talks "marked a good start for both sides to have various communications."

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]