Japanese Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso will hold talks with China’s Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli on Friday, an official with direct knowledge of the schedule said, amid signs of a thaw in relations between the two nations.
He is also scheduled to hold talks with China’s Finance Minister Lou Jiwei on Friday night.
Aso’s two-day visit to Beijing comes after President Xi Jinping appeared at an event in Beijing last month aimed at promoting closer ties between the two countries.
Xi told more than 3,000 Japanese people at the event, including lawmakers and local government officials, that exchanges in various fields were vital despite remaining political problems between Beijing and Tokyo.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s meetings with Xi, held twice in five months, have also helped ease tensions between Asia’s two biggest economies.
Japan and China are involved in a territorial dispute over the ownership of islands in the East China Sea.