The visit will be Iwaya's first to China since becoming Japan's top diplomat earlier this year.

He told reporters in Tokyo that "China represents one of the most important bilateral relationships for us".

"Between Japan and China, there are various possibilities but also multiple challenges and concerns," he said.

"Both countries possess the heavy responsibilities for the peace and stability of our region and the international community," he added.

China and Japan are key trading partners, but increased friction over territorial rivalries and military spending has frayed ties in recent years.

Japan's brutal occupation of parts of China before and during World War II remains a sore point, with Beijing accusing Tokyo of failing to atone for its past.

Visits by Japanese officials to the Yasukuni shrine that honours war dead -- including convicted war criminals -- regularly prompt anger from Beijing.

Tokyo is a longstanding and key US ally, but it has been expanding its partnerships as a bulwark against Beijing.

China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said Beijing "was ready to work with Japan... to focus on common interests, strengthen dialogue and communication, deepen practical cooperation (and) properly manage differences".

Beijing will "strive to build a constructive and stable China-Japan relationship that meets the requirements of the new era", she added.

"The Chinese side attaches great importance to the foreign minister's visit, and Chinese leaders will meet with the foreign minister," she said.

- Tense ties -

Tensions flared last year over Japan's decision to begin releasing into the Pacific Ocean some of the 540 Olympic swimming pools' worth of reactor cooling water amassed since the tsunami that led to the Fukushima nuclear disaster -- an operation the UN atomic agency deemed safe.

China branded the move "selfish" and banned all Japanese seafood imports.

In September, Beijing said it would "gradually resume" importing the seafood.

China imported more than $500 million worth of seafood from Japan in 2022, according to customs data.

Beijing's more assertive presence around disputed territories in the region has also sparked Tokyo's ire, as it boosts security ties with the United States and its allies.

In August, a Chinese military aircraft staged the first confirmed incursion by China into Japanese airspace, followed weeks later by a Japanese warship sailing through the Taiwan Strait for the first time.

Beijing's rare test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile into the Pacific Ocean in late September also drew strong protests from Tokyo, which said it had not been given advance notice.

China also in August formally indicted a Japanese man held since last year on espionage charges.

The man, an employee of the Japanese pharmaceutical company Astellas, was held in March last year and placed under formal arrest in October.