Leaders of China, Japan hold ice-breaking meeting amid longtime stormy relations

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held an ice-breaking meeting Monday on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific conference in Beijing, following more than two years of deep tensions over an island dispute. The spat between China and Japan over uninhabited East China Sea islands raised concerns of a military confrontation between Asia’s two largest economics. China also has been angry over what it sees as effort by Japan to play down its brutal 20th century invasion and occupation of China. The meeting of the two leaders ahead of Tuesday’s summit of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum gives rise to hopes the countries can dial down the tensions. Abe told reporters after the talks that the countries made a “first step” toward reconciliation.

I believe that not only our Asian neighbors but many other countries have long hoped that Japan and China hold talks. We finally lived up to their expectations and made a first step to improve our ties.

Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe

The two sides issued a joint statement on Friday agreeing to gradually resume political, diplomatic and security dialogues. In that statement, Japan said it acknowledged differing views over the status of the islands, called Diaoyu in Chinese and Senkaku in Japan. China has long demanded that Tokyo acknowledge that the islands’ sovereignty is in dispute, something Japan has refused to do. China and Japan have had poor relations for decades, rooted in Japan’s fears of China’s economic and political rise and Beijing’s sense of victimhood. Japan’s nationalisation of the islands in September 2012 infuriated Beijing, raising regional security fears as Chinese patrol ships repeatedly penetrated the surrounding waters to confront Japanese coast guard vessels.

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