China and Japan edging closer to a Xi-Abe meeting at Apec summit
If leaders are to meet in Beijing in November, Chinese and Japanese diplomats must show vision and flexibility to iron out all the details
After almost two years of growing tensions, the leaders of China and Japan may finally meet each other. Both countries are quietly paving the way for a meeting on the sidelines of the Apec summit in Beijing in November.
But with less that two months to go, analysts say flexibility and imagination will be required from both sides if diplomats are to iron out details for a potential rendezvous.
Since both President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office in 2012, China has rejected multiple requests from Tokyo for a summit as bilateral ties deteriorated over their territorial disputes in the East China Sea.
Abe's hawkish views on historical issues and his goal of reducing the constraints of Japan's pacifist constitution on its armed forces have further irritated Beijing. He was told he was unwelcome in China after visiting the Yasukuni war shrine, which Beijing sees as a symbol of Japan's militarism, in December.
But diplomats and analysts say high-level exchanges must resume to avoid a miscalculation in disputed territory that could escalate into conflict.
For the two leaders to meet, Beijing has laid down two preconditions: Abe should refrain from visiting the shrine again as prime minister and Japan should admit disputes exist over the contested East China Sea islands known as the Senkakus in Japan and the Diaoyus in China.