A group of middle-ranking officers of the Self-Defense Forces inspected a Chinese air force facility in Tianjin, China, on Thursday as part of an exchange program between the two countries’ defense personnel.
Thirteen SDF officers arrived in China on Tuesday. The group visited and spoke with Lt. Gen. Yang Xiaoxiang and other members of the Academy of Military Sciences, a Chinese military think tank in Beijing, on Wednesday.
Maritime Self-Defense Force Capt. Yoshinari Nagaoka, who led the group, said during the visit to the think tank that he wants to “engage in exchanges that lead to the future.”
In the discussions, a Chinese participant asked if there will be any shifts in Japan’s policies after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
The SDF members are scheduled to stay in China until Wednesday. They inspected an army unit in Beijing and plan to visit a naval facility in Guangzhou.
Exchanges between the SDF and the Chinese military began in 2001 at the initiative of Japan’s Sasakawa Peace Foundation. The program was suspended in 2012 due to strained bilateral ties over the Senkaku Islands, controlled by Tokyo and claimed by Beijing, as well as in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
In-person visits resumed last year. Chinese military members visited Japan in May this year.