Representatives from several Japanese business groups on Monday visited a Beijing expo featuring artificial intelligence, with some voicing hope for improved Sino-Japanese ties strained over remarks Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made on Taiwan.
Small-scale delegations from the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Kansai Economic Federation, the Japanese Association for the Promotion of International Trade and the Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry attended the five-day China International Supply Chain Expo through Friday.
The annual exhibition, first held in 2023, focuses on strengthening supply chains and fostering connections across the upstream, midstream and downstream segments. This year’s event attracted more than 670 companies and institutions from 85 countries, regions and international organizations.
Its AI exhibition zone featured booths by U.S. semiconductor giants Nvidia Corp and Intel Corp.
Masayoshi Matsumoto, chairman of the Kansai Economic Federation and Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd, told reporters that business leaders played a role in the past to help mend relations between the governments of China and Japan.
“We hope to ensure smooth exchanges between the two countries by seizing various opportunities,” Matsumoto said.
An official of Panasonic Holdings Corp, which exhibited products for the elderly at the expo, said it is important for the Japanese company to remain visible in the Chinese market even amid worsening bilateral ties.
Gaku Hashimoto, son of the late Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto and acting chief of the trade promotion association, also visited the expo.
Sino-Japanese ties have sharply deteriorated since Takaichi said last November in parliament that an attack by mainland China on Taiwan, a self-ruled democratic island claimed by Beijing, could prompt a response by her nation’s defense forces in support of the U.S. military.
© KYODO
