Japan hopes it will be able to communicate closely with China even though Beijing fired Foreign Minister Qin Gang for no apparent reason, the top government spokesman said Wednesday.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno refrained from commenting on China's decision to replace Qin with his predecessor Wang Yi but said Japan's diplomatic posture toward the Asian neighbor is unchanged.
"We would like to communicate closely with each other at various levels, including with Mr. Wang Yi," Matsuno told a regular news conference.
The removal of Qin comes as China has ramped up criticism against Japan's plan to release treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean.
Asked about the water discharge plan, Matsuno said the government will keep making efforts to explain to the international community the project's safety in a transparent manner and call on China to deal with the issue from a scientific point of view.
China has recently started blanket radiation testing on seafood imports from Japan.
Qin was removed from his ministerial post and Wang was reinstated to the portfolio at a parliament session Tuesday, China's official Xinhua News Agency said. But it did not report on the reason for the replacement despite Qin's one-month disappearance from public view.
Wang served in the post from 2013 to 2022, before becoming the head of the Chinese Communist Party's Central Committee Foreign Affairs Commission Office, a position regarded as the country's top diplomat.
Related coverage:
U.S. says talks with China vital even after foreign minister removal
Qin removed from China foreign minister post, Wang reinstated: media
