Japan, China mull postponing Xi's state visit in April

You'd have to be an idiot to invite this liar over to Japan. Xi and his government can't be trusted! Let Xi stay home and deal with the mess that his government created and has now forced the world to deal with.

It would have been the perfect opportunity for Japanese people and businesses to air their grievances about China's pressure on Japanese border controls/covid'19 containment.

Now that we know Japan's health infrastructure is lacking, China's pressure on Japan, and Japan caving in seems like a case of all care for China, no care for Japan. IMHO, Abe is on his last leg politically (and haps the LDP as well).

Haven’t they heard of teleworking?

It would be nice to ask the pooh bear Xi about this....

https://nypost.com/2020/02/29/china-officials-knew-of-coronavirus-in-december-ordered-cover-up-report-says/

....although an honest and straight answer would not be forthcoming.

I say cancel the meeting with an explanation that once the Wuhan virus is under control it will be time to reconsider.

IMHO, Abe is on his last leg politically (and haps the LDP as well).

I agree but I don’t think it’s just in Japan Japan that leadership is going to change. People everywhere will push for changes when they realize their leaders have no idea what they are doing. Sadly though, nobody who can replace them would do any better.

@Nemui; you make an interesting point. I am now hearing some Japanese friends and acquaintances who never spoke bad of the LDP really hammering (yes I mean hammering) the leadership's response to this. I am sure they do not speak for 100% of the people but it is interesting.

The biggest complaint I hear is not the cruise ship itself, but the way the release of those on the ship was dealt with. Told to take public transport and then self quarantine.

Now the sports club in Hokkaido which appears to be a cluster originating from the cruise ship....

I agree that any meeting with Xi should be after this Wu-Flu is contained and life returns to normal in at leat Japan if not the rest of the World. Of course Xi himself may be reluctant to step out of China until this settles down.

@Tokyo-Engr: yeah I’ve been hearing similar. “Cruise ship was bad but the release is worse” A lot of the people I’ve talked to are not Abe supporters but have always said he’s the “best of what we’ve got”. I think that’s gonna change after this. Even though I think there will be a lot of political changes worldwide after this, I don’t think the governments that truly NEED to change will.

This is not news. It's news when they do it.

A virtual conference would be best in this case. No offense to the source country of the Coronavirus but this meeting is less important at the moment and Xi should be concentrating on their own real problems instead. In response to the LDP's handling, the other day I heard on NHK the Diet meetings where a DPJ high official response was "if you test positive then it doesn't mean your infected" as soon as those words came out even the old guys who were half asleep woke up, "huh" did I hear this correctly? Then the LDP speaker explained it to him about testing positive, but this guy just didn't get it and said the same thing again. Unbelievable. Which party is correct? We need competent leaders with experience and competent capabilities. Not parties who take the system as a joke like the guy in the bed who takes an hour to respond "YES" or the lady who admitted that she knew nothing about politics but is there making decisions for the nation. I hope people really do start paying attention to read and understand the importance of voting for a candidate.

Maybe Xi should be quarantined for 14 days if he does come to Japan. Just to be safe.....

I'm relieved he's not coming....he doesn't have any remorse for the trouble that they have caused all over the world!!!

A large majority of Japanese are currently not in welcoming mood. Only a few pro-Beijing politicians and business leaders are insisting on Xi's visit as scheduled.

No cancellations!

Abe has to meet the leader of the China, noted for its plethora of viral infections.

If only, to show the overworked exposed Taro and Yoko, that here is a man willing to put Japan first, and that his own personal safety, being shown shaking hands with Xi Jinping is second to the success of Japan as a nation...

He should come, if only because I want to throw eggs & tomatoes at him.

Yes he must come so we can hand him an invoice for covid-19 compensatory damage.