President Xi Jinping has told Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that China hoped to see sensitive issues with its Asian neighbour “addressed rightly”, according to a news agency report, amid signs of a thaw in relations between the two nations.
Xi and Abe talked for four minutes on the sidelines of the international climate change summit in Paris on Monday, Kyodo quoted a senior Japanese official as saying.
Xi noted that he had seen “changing signs” in the two countries’ relations, the official said.
“It’s important for us to continue deepening the favourable atmosphere and, towards that end, I hope to see mutually sensitive issues addressed rightly and the relationship cherished,” the official cited Xi as saying.
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Abe told Xi he had a good exchange of views with Premier Li Keqiang in Seoul at talks last month that included South Korea, according to the report. He also called for more “people-to-people” exchanges between Japan and China.
The brief meeting marks the two leaders’ first conversation since the Asia-Africa summit in Jakarta in April.
Ties between the two countries have been strained since Beijing’s high-profile nationalist campaign to mark the end of the second world war in September. Tensions escalated as Japan joined the US and the Philippines to oppose China’s constructions in the disputed South China Sea.
Apart from a “hello” from Abe, the two had no conversation during the G20 meetings in November and little interaction during the following Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Manila.
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Xi also met US President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the Paris climate summit. Xi said the world’s two largest economies should “partner with each other to help the climate conference deliver its expected targets”.
Obama said “nowhere has our coordination been more necessary or more fruitful than the topic that we’re here to discuss during the Paris conference”.
Obama raised the issue of China’s territorial claims in South China Sea during their meeting, following reports that the US Navy was likely to carry out another patrol by the end of the year within 12 nautical miles of artificial islands built by China in disputed waters of the ocean.
“On issues like cybersecurity and maritime issues, I think President Xi and I have developed a candid way of discussing these issues,” Obama said. Xi said it was important to “manage differences and sensitive issues in a constructive way”.