Japanese Foreign Minister Motegi Toshimitsu said he briefly greeted Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on July 22, 2026, during ASEAN Foreign Ministers meetings held in Manila. Motegi said, "I had the opportunity to briefly greet Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the venue. We talked about bilateral relations," emphasizing Japan's openness to dialogue and shared responsibility for regional peace [1, 2, 3, 4, 5].
However, Chinese official sources, including CGTN and Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin Jian, strongly denied any meeting or conversation took place between the two ministers. Lin stated, "I can very clearly tell you again here, during the Manila period, Foreign Minister Wang Yi had no schedule to meet Japanese side, and there was no 'brief exchange' on site" [1, 2, 3, 4, 5].
During the ASEAN meetings, Wang Yi did not attend key events such as a dinner hosted by the Philippine Foreign Minister on July 21, nor the ASEAN+3 Foreign Ministers meeting on July 23. Vice Foreign Minister Hua Chunying attended on his behalf at some events [1, 2].
Chinese analysts interpret the absence of official contact as a sign of the current diplomatic stalemate between China and Japan, fueled by tensions over Taiwan and Japan’s defense policies following remarks by Japan’s Prime Minister in November 2025 [1].
The dispute over the alleged contact illustrates the strained relations between the two countries. The last official contact between the ministers was about nine months prior to this alleged encounter [1].
Japan stresses it remains open to dialogue at various levels and bears responsibility for peace in the region [1, 2, 5].
The Chinese Foreign Ministry reiterated its denial on July 27 through spokesperson Lin Jian, following CGTN’s denial on July 25 that no meeting or exchange took place during the ASEAN meetings in Manila [2, 3, 4, 5].
