Tokyo Rejects Beijing’s Account on Ishiba–Wang Talks as ‘Factually Incorrect’

‘It is regrettable that such factually incorrect statement was issued,’ Japan’s foreign ministry says.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (L) and Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya hold a joint press conference after their meeting during the 11th Trilateral Foreign Minister's Meeting in Tokyo on March 22, 2025. Rodrigo Reyes Marin/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

Japan’s foreign ministry announced Monday that it had called on its Chinese equivalent to fix its website’s “factually incorrect” account of a meeting between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.

A line in the Chinese foreign ministry’s statement—published on March 21 after Wang met with Ishiba on the eve of the 11th South Korea–Japan–China Foreign Ministers’ Meeting—implies that Japan’s prime minister said he “respects” China’s position on an array of issues, a statement that Tokyo said was never made.