An annual meeting of tourism ministers of South Korea, China and Japan has been indefinitely postponed amid tensions between Beijing and Tokyo over a group of islands in the East China Sea.

The Japanese government said Thursday that it received a letter from China late last month that its tourism minister won’t be able to attend the trilateral meeting, citing schedule problems.

The Japan National Tourism Organization under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism was set to open the trilateral tourism ministers’ meeting on November 26th and 27th at Fukushima.