I’ve
been pushing the line for a while with regard to Japan-China summitry that a) the
two sides have been building towards a handshake and a chat between Shinzo Abe
and Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the upcoming APEC summit in Shanghai which the
Japanese side will talk up as constructive and encouraging and the Chinese side
will deny being a bilateral meeting as Xi was merely being polite as the host
for the APEC heads, but that b) there was the risk that the Chinese side will
consider the buildup process sufficient to put the bilateral relationship on an
even keel without the one-on-one meet-and-greet, an unconditional (as demanded
by Abe) exchange that would entail domestic fallout for Xi. Well according to
today’s Nikkei (Oct. 30), as former Prime
Minister Yasuo Fukuda met Xi Jinping yet again, this time together with the
other board members of the Boao Forum for Asia, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang
Yi stated in in a press conference with regard to a possible Japan-China summit
meeting that “there is the custom amongst the Chinese that ‘all who come are
guests,’ and we as the host country shall fulfill the duties necessary as hosts
to welcome all the guests.” It’s possible that the Nikkei reporter read too much into Wang Yi’s statement—it happens—but
a) looks more likely than ever and risk b) significantly diminished.
I
know it’s silly, but it makes me happy just to know that things are going the
way of my call. I wonder how I would feel if I predicted the end of the world and
Skynet suddenly got smart.
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