China canceled a meeting between Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and Keidanren Chairman Hiromasa Yonekura set for Tuesday evening, the business federation said.

Keidanren received notice of the cancellation late Monday night. Yonekura was in Beijing for a meeting on Sunday with Chinese and South Korean business leaders.

While no reason was given for the cancellation, it was possibly linked to the start Monday in Tokyo of a meeting of the World Uyghur Congress' general assembly, which China fiercely opposes.

The Tokyo meeting could also have been a factor behind the failure to arrange a meeting between Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and Chinese President Hu Jintao on Monday, after Sunday's Japan-China-South Korea summit in Beijing.