Japan welcome to join AIIB and initiative

Toshihiro Nikai, the secretary-general of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, met with President Xi Jinping on Tuesday, raising hopes of Tokyo joining the China-proposed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

Nikai also attended the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing, which concluded on Monday, and was quoted as saying: "The key would be how quickly Japan can decide to participate" in the AIIB. Even Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Monday that joining the AIIB could be an option, if questions over the environmental impact of the projects funded by the bank and other issues were resolved.

Tokyo's change of attitude toward the AIIB, to some extent, is a result of the improving China-US relations. The four months of US President Donald Trump's tenure have seen fruitful interactions between the world's largest and second-largest economies, including a meeting and several phone calls between the two heads of state. That has not only strengthened the personal rapport between Xi and Trump, but also set the tone for cooperation on pressing issues such as the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue.