林外相、年内訪中で調整　首脳会談受け対話加速

　林芳正外相が年内にも中国を訪問し、王毅国務委員兼外相と会談する方向で調整していることが１４日、分かった。「建設的かつ安定的な日中関係」に向けた対話の継続を確認しつつ、台湾情勢や東シナ海への海洋進出も取り上げて自制を促すとみられる。
　外相の訪中は２０１９年１２月以来で、林氏の就任後は初めてとなる。岸田文雄首相が１１月の習近平国家主席との会談で、首脳レベルを含め緊密に意思疎通する方針で一致し、外相訪中に向けた調整を進めることで合意していた。
　日本国内では、沖縄県・尖閣諸島周辺で常態化する海警船の領海侵入や、中国が８月に台湾周辺で実施した大規模軍事演習の際に弾道ミサイルが日本の排他的経済水域（ＥＥＺ）に着弾したことを受け、警戒が高まっている。
　林氏は「課題や懸案があるが、主張すべきは主張し対話を重ねる」（首相）との政府方針を維持しながら、会談では「台湾海峡の平和と安定」の重要性を伝える考えだ。（2022/12/14-18:56）

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi is planning to visit China and have talks with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, by the end of this year at the earliest, it was learned Wednesday.
   It will be the first trip to China by a Japanese foreign minister since December 2019, before Hayashi was appointed to the position.
   The move comes after Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a bilateral summit last month, agreeing that the two countries would keep in close contact, including at the summit level, and that they would coordinate for Hayashi's visit to China.
   Hayashi is expected to confirm with Wang the continuation of dialogue toward a "constructive and stable" Japan-China relationship, while discussing the situation around Taiwan and Beijing's maritime expansion in the East China Sea.
   Japan is on higher alert as Chinese coast guard ships are repeatedly intruding into Japanese territorial waters around the Senkaku Islands, which are also claimed by China, and after a ballistic missile launched during a large-scale Chinese military drill landed in Japan's exclusive economic zone in August.