China financial dialogue ‘extremely good’, says Japan’s Finance Minister Taro Aso
Both sides agree to continue cooperation after talks between ministers in Beijing
Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso said on Friday that the current round of financial dialogue with China was “extremely good”, and that both sides agreed to maintain cooperation in macroeconomic policies and measures.
The Chinese side was “cordial”, Aso, who is also Japan’s deputy prime minister, told reporters in Beijing, following the China-Japan Finance Dialogue.
At the outset of a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Liu Kun in Beijing, Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso said the economies of both countries are “in an important phase.”
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The dialogue was the seventh of its kind, and was last held in May 2017.
Japan hopes bilateral financial cooperation, including resumption of currency swap arrangements, will pave the way for a meeting between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping later this year in Beijing.
In May, Japan and China agreed to resume their currency swap arrangement in times of financial emergency, while Beijing promised to grant Tokyo a 200 billion yuan (about US$29 billion) investment quota in yuan-denominated stocks and bonds.
During their meeting, Aso and Liu are believed to have exchanged views on how to move ahead with economic and financial cooperation between their two nations.
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In recent years, Sino-Japanese ties have been mired in a territorial row over East China Sea, in the East China Sea. Tensions escalated especially after the Japanese government effectively put them under state control in September 2012.
But bilateral relations have been improving, with both sides reflecting positively on the 40th anniversary this year of the signing of a friendship treaty between the two countries.
Earlier this month Abe and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang exchanged messages to celebrate the anniversary.
Abe said he wanted to promote cooperation and looked forward to visit China, while Li said China would continue to develop stable long-term bilateral relations with Japan.
Additional reporting by Kyodo
