Japan lawmakers to visit China in bid to cool row, but thaw unlikely: experts

4-MIN READ4-MIN2ListenPublished: 9:00am, 21 Aug 2026Updated: 9:18am, 21 Aug 2026A reported trip to China next week by a cross-party group of Japanese lawmakers could carry “pronounced” symbolic weight but is unlikely to herald a thaw in ties between the two neighbours, Chinese experts suggest.For the first time since bilateral relations succumbed to a bitter chill 10 months ago, a delegation of Japan’s parliamentary members will visit Beijing from August 24 to 27, according to reports by multiple Japanese outlets on Wednesday.Those legislators – including some from the lower chamber of Japan’s National Diet such as Gaku Hashimoto from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and Shinichi Isa of the main opposition Centrist Reform Alliance (CRA) – were in talks to confirm meetings with officials from the Communist Party’s diplomatic arm, the reports noted.Japanese PM ‘open’ to talks with ChinaTheir travel would mark a “semi-official” diplomatic effort through a non-core executive channel by a fraction of the Japanese lawmakers who advocated maintaining communication with China, said Xu Weijun, an associate research professor at the Institute of Public Policy (IPP) at China-university-of-technology" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="37969" data-entity-type="organization">South China University of Technology in Guangzhou.