Japan Trade Delegation Plans Beijing Expo Visit

A Japanese trade delegation plans to visit Beijing in late June to inspect China’s supply-chain expo and meet Chinese officials. (nippon.com) The group is expected to travel from June 21 to 24, according to multiple reports, with former House of Representatives speaker Yohei Kono leading the visit. The delegation will inspect the China International Supply Chain Expo, which runs from June 22 to 26 in Beijing. (nippon.com) (nationthailand.com) (en.cisce.org.cn) The expo is in its fourth year and is organized around industrial links such as logistics, manufacturing, and cross-border sourcing rather than finished consumer products. China’s Commerce Ministry says the 2026 event will be held in Beijing from June 22 to 26. (en.cisce.org.cn) (is.mofcom.gov.cn) The visit comes as Tokyo and Beijing keep official channels open while friction persists over security and territorial disputes. Japan’s Foreign Ministry page on China lists both recent diplomatic contacts and continuing disputes over the Senkaku Islands and East China Sea resources. (mofa.go.jp) That mix of tension and economic contact has defined the relationship for months. Japan’s prime minister and China’s president held a summit on October 31, 2025, even as later Japanese and Chinese statements showed fresh disputes over Taiwan-related remarks and military activity. (japan.kantei.go.jp) (mofa.go.jp) (thediplomat.com) Chinese organizers are pitching the expo as a place to stabilize industrial links at a time of global supply-chain strain. China’s trade-promotion body said in March that more than 500 domestic and foreign companies had already signed up for the 2026 event. (english.www.gov.cn) Japanese business groups have used the expo before as a channel into China’s leadership. In June 2025, Ren Hongbin of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade met a Japanese business delegation led by Kono in Beijing to discuss industrial and supply-chain cooperation. (en.cisce.org.cn) This year’s trip appears narrower than a broad political reset. The immediate task is a closer look at how Japanese companies might keep trading with China while both governments manage a relationship that is still carrying diplomatic strain into the summer. (nippon.com) (mofa.go.jp)