Japan and China have agreed to continue preparations for a state visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping in April despite speculation the trip may be postponed as Beijing struggles to contain the COVID-19 outbreak.
In a meeting on the sidelines of a security conference in Munich, Germany, on Saturday, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi told Chinese State Councilor Wang Yi that Japan fully supports Beijing's efforts to contain the epidemic, which has killed more than 1,600 and infected over 68,000 in mainland China alone, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.
The pneumonia-causing coronavirus apparently began spreading in late December from a seafood market in Wuhan, a commercial hub of about 11 million in central China that has since been put under lockdown.