Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited China Thursday for the first time in seven years to hold a formal bilateral summit with Chinese leaders, and China and Japan sought to further improve their relations against the backdrop of trade frictions with the United States.
China has stepped up its contacts with Japan and other countries at a time of trade disputes with the United States.
Japan is eager to maintain smooth economic relations with China, its largest trading partner, but must avoid annoying the United States, its main security ally. Japan and the United States also have problems in trade.
Although Abe has met repeatedly with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Friday will be the first formal summit between the two countries since 2011.
Abe will meet with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Thursday and attend the 40th anniversary of the conclusion of the Sino-Japanese Treaty of Peace and Friendship. Both China and Japan want more exchanges between the leaders of the two countries.
"If Xi Jinping promises to visit Japan next year, it will be a big event," said Kiyoyuki Seguchi, research director at the Canon Global Strategy Institute in Tokyo.
"If it can be achieved, it will speed up the improvement of Sino Japanese relations."
A series of agreements are expected to be signed, including bilateral local currency swap agreements, new dialogue on innovation and intellectual property protection, and enhanced military exchanges between the two countries.
Japan also hopes to make progress on the implementation of the 2008 agreement on joint development of disputed natural gas fields in waters, and calls on China to ease import restrictions on products from areas affected by the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011.
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