China’s premier says ties with Japan ‘gradually improving’
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang says his countries ties with Japan are “gradually improving” and the two nations should further deepen cooperation.
Li made the remarks during a meeting with a group of Japanese business leaders in Beijing on Tuesday, amid increasing signs that Asia’s two biggest economies are on course to repair their relations at a faster space.
“Recently, China-Japan relations have been gradually improving and there is a positive momentum,” Li told the delegation at the Great Hall of the People. “We should value this and solidify the base for improving relations.”
Li said the business communities of the two countries have a large role to play by strengthening cooperation and exchanges.
The delegation of the Japan-China Economic Association, led by Shoji Muneoka, chairman of Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp, consists of about 250 people, the largest since the group started sending a mission almost annually to Beijing in 1975.
The meeting took place after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed earlier this month in Vietnam to make a new start on the two countries’ ties, which have often been strained by territorial and historical disputes.
Just two days after the November 11 meeting, Abe and Li held talks on the sidelines of a regional summit in the Philippines and also agreed to make further efforts at repairing the relationship.
The delegation, comprising executives from major Japanese companies, planned to discuss ways to promote trade in the Asia-Pacific region with Li.
Sadayuki Sakakibara, chairman of the business federation, has also called for an early conclusion of a free-trade agreement between China, Japan and South Korea.
The group was expected to touch on the Japanese private sector’s interest in taking part in China’s Belt and Road international trade initiative.
Li last met with the Japanese business leaders in 2015, which marked the first time since 2009 that a Chinese president or premier had responded to a request for talks from the delegation.
Sino-Japanese relations turned frosty in about 2010 over the disputed Diaoyu Islands, called by Japan the Senkakus, in the East China Sea, but have gradually thawed over the past two years.
The business group met with Vice-Premier Zhang Gaoli last year as Li was on an overseas trip.
