China's Xi Jinping meets Japan's Shinzo Abe: tentative thawing of relations

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Beijing: Chinese President Xi Jinping has held talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for the second time in five months, in a meeting seen as evidence of the continued, if tentative, thawing of ties between the two major Asian powers.

The two leaders held a half-hour meeting on the sidelines of a gathering of Asian and African countries in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta on Wednesday, amid the backdrop of a relationship perpetually strained by a long-standing territorial dispute in the East China Sea and bitter differences over the recognition of their shared war-time past.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, center, greets Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday. Credit: AP

The pair shared a handshake for the camera before the meeting, which while far from jovial, was markedly less awkward than the frosty encounter in November in Beijing, where an agreement was reached to resume high-level dialogue aimed at gradually smoothing their vast differences. In Jakarta, much focus was trained on Mr Abe's address to the conference. That speech, along with his scheduled address to a joint session of the US Congress in Washington next week, is seen by foreign policy analysts as a guide to the language the Japanese leader is expected to use in a formal statement in August, marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.

Mr Abe expressed "deep remorse" for his nation's role in the war, but stopped short of a formal apology which has been the custom of previous prime ministers at the conference, including Junichiro Koizumi a decade earlier.

Chinese President Xi Jinping rides an escalator after meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.Credit: Reuters

Mr Abe, who has signalled a desire to turn the page on Japan's past aggression, also prompted complaints from China earlier in the week after he sent an offering to Tokyo's Yasukuni war shrine, seen as an inflammatory act particularly in China and Korea because it honours Japan's war dead, including more than a dozen Class-A war criminals.

Both China and Korea have consistently called on Japan to show greater contrition and to do more to atone for its wartime military aggression and colonialism.

Despite the tensions, Mr Abe said Wednesday's talks with Mr Xi were "very fruitful" and signified improving relations between the two countries.

Chinese state media in turn reported that Mr Xi voiced his hope "that the Japanese side will seriously treat the concerns of its Asian neighbours and send out positive signals on the history issue".

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, left shakes hands with China's President Xi Jinping on Wednesday.Credit: Kyodo

He told Mr Abe that China wanted to improve communication with Japan and work together so that the two countries did not pose a threat to each other, according to state media reports.