China’s Xi Planned State Visit to Japan Delayed Over Coronavirus

(Bloomberg) --

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s much anticipated state visit to Tokyo has been postponed, the Japanese government said.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference Thursday that the two countries agreed to postpone the visit. The trip -- expected in April --would’ve been the first of its kind in a decade, and a milestone in Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s rapprochement with his larger neighbor.

While Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian didn’t immediately confirm the decision, he told regular news briefing Thursday that the visit would happen at the “most appropriate timing.”

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