Japanese PM Shinzo Abe's Beijing visit underscores warming China-Japan ties

The Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe yesterday held a second meeting with his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang during the first formal visit to Beijing by a Japanese leader in nearly seven years that heralds warming ties following years of acrimony.

  

Speaking to reporters afterward, Li said 500 business agreements worth USD 18 billion had been signed between Chinese and Japanese companies during the visit, displaying the bright future for cooperation between the



sides.

Abe, who has been accompanied by a 500-strong business delegation, expressed hopes for closer ties and a shift in relations from an age of competition to cooperation, an apparent reference to rifts that until recently have muted Japanese business interests in China.

Abe is due to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping later today, possibly cementing the steady recovery in relations that hit a low in 2012 amid a dispute over East China Sea islands.