China and Japan vow to build ties for ‘new era’ as strategic talks resume
- After seven-year hiatus, dialogue between Le Yucheng, China’s foreign vice-minister, and Japanese counterpart Takeo Akiba is held in Nagano prefecture
- Foreign ministry says they had candid exchanges about bilateral and regional issues and would push forward consensus reached between leaders in June
China and Japan said they would work to build a relationship that met the requirements of a “new era”, as the two sides resumed strategic talks after a seven-year hiatus.
The strategic dialogue between Le Yucheng, China’s foreign vice-minister, and his Japanese counterpart Takeo Akiba was held on Saturday in Nagano prefecture, Japan.
Xi and Abe confirmed the Chinese president’s visit to Japan next spring and agreed to take bilateral talks to the next level during the Osaka meeting.
The resumption of the long-suspended dialogue was widely seen by analysts as part of preparations for a spring summit between the two leaders.
Le arrived in Tokyo on Thursday for talks with Japanese officials ahead of Saturday’s dialogue. He told Japanese media on Friday that despite the many “ups and downs” since the normalisation of relations more than 40 years ago, the two countries should work together to “inject more stability and positive energy into the turbulent world”.