China, Japan health recognition system may be discussed during Wang Yi's visit
By Liu Caiyu and Leng Shumei
Global Times
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Photo: VCG

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is to pay a two-day visit to Japan on Tuesday, his first since Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga took office. Chinese experts predict that the two sides might discuss establishing a mutual recognition system for health certificates to enable resumption of bilateral business travel.

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit Japan and South Korea from November 24 to 27 at the invitation of Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian announced on Friday.

Wang's visit to Japan comes about two months after Suga took office and about two weeks after Suga's phone call with US president-elect Joe Biden covering security issues concerning the Diaoyu Islands, over which Japan has had disputes with China.

Experts predict that economic resumption would be the focus of Wang's visit, the two sides may also touch upon sensitive topics, such as the Diaoyu Islands dispute.

Japan is unlikely to continue to push the dispute as the country still wants to cooperate with China and resume trade.   Wang will stay in Japan on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to Japanese media.

As part of efforts to address economic resumption in the post-epidemic era, Japanese media said the Japanese government will focus on how to resume business travel. The Japan Times said the two sides hoped to restart travel in November.

If the two governments were to allow business travel during the 14-day quarantine period, a specialized channel must be built and using a QR health code would be easy to implement, Lü Yaodong, a research fellow of the Institute of Japanese Studies, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Monday.

At the 15th G20 Summit on Saturday, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for the establishment of an international health code and welcomed the participation of other countries. The mechanism should be based on nucleic acid test results and use universally recognized QR codes, Xi said.

Lü said asking business travelers to register a QR code would facilitate their travels.

China wants to encourage more countries to join a China-proposed mechanism on mutual recognition of health certificates with a QR code to resume global travel, experts said. A QR code has been widely used in Chinese cities to detect people who have had a high risk of exposure to the coronavirus.