At the onset of the meeting in Tokyo yesterday, Shotaro Yachi, senior national security adviser to Abe, said bilateral relations were "improving" and he was eager to develop friendly ties despite "problems" such as the situation in the East China Sea.

Yang, who outranks the foreign minister, said he wanted to play "an active role to improve" bilateral relations.

Despite growing economic dependency, tensions between the two countries have in recent years escalated over historical issues and a sovereignty dispute over an East China Sea island chain, which China calls Diaoyu and Japan, Senkaku.

The two sides have resumed talks over a crisis management system to prevent unintended conflicts in the disputed waters. But earlier this month, negotiations ground to a halt after the two sides failed to agree on whether the mechanism should apply to the territorial waters surrounding and air above the disputed islands, which are administered by Japan.

Japanese officials say Yang will use the visit to discuss bilateral issues and to pave the way for the three-way summit, which is widely expected to take place later this month in South Korea. The three leaders are expected to discuss economic cooperation, in particular on a proposed trilateral free-trade agreement.

The annual summit was suspended in 2012 after Beijing refused to attend the meeting to protest against Tokyo's nationalisation of the disputed islands.

Japan is also hoping to set up another meeting between Xi and Abe on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Manila next month.

Face-to-face meetings between Abe and his counterparts from China and South Korea have been rare because of his views on Japan's wartime history.