Abe vows to bolster ties with China day before Beijing trip
- by Ken Ortega
- in Worldwide
- — Oct 28, 2018
Today, October 24, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he was ready to conclude a peace Treaty with Russian Federation only after the Kuril Islands are part of Japan.
At the same time, culture wars over Japan's occupation of China have resurfaced, with Beijing politicizing wartime atrocities while nationalists in Tokyo argue their country should recapture its national pride.
To get to that point, the two have agreed to push forward with visits and exchanges between their defense ministers and to host reciprocal port calls.
Speaking to reporters afterward, Li said 500 business agreements worth $18 billion had been signed between Chinese and Japanese companies during the visit, displaying the "bright future" for cooperation between the sides.
Japan wants to ensure any joint projects with China are transparent, open and fiscally sound, officials said.
Still, despite the United States hostility pushing Beijing and Tokyo closer together, the two countries' long and fractious history makes an easy and lasting rapprochement hard.
Prime Minister said - "As democracies, we have shared values".
However, when asked for more specifics on the deals, Abe's spokesman Takeshi Osuga said he had "no idea how that number was calculated". In an interview with the South China Morning Post in the runup to Abe's arrival in Beijing, the Chinese ambassador to Japan, Cheng Yonghua, touted the countries' "highly complimentary" economies.
The leaders of Asia's two biggest economies reached a series of agreements on Friday aimed at deepening economic and trade ties between China and Japan.
Japan's Shinzo Abe inspected troops off Beijing's Tiananmen Square Friday during a rare visit to China as ties further improve and the two countries face trade challenges from US President Donald Trump. He recalled that previous year, he had hosted Prime Minister Abe and his wife Akie Abe in his home state of Gujarat.
More news: Early Voting Kicks Off Monday in Central Florida"[ I think] China would like to warm relations with traditional rivals such as Japan and concentrate the diplomatic efforts on United States".
"The Chinese Communist Party always has this history card against Japan in their pocket", Takahara said.
He declined to give details about the leaders' discussions on the territorial dispute, human rights and other sensitive issues.
Osuga did note that universal values and maritime security were important principles of Japan's engagement with China.
Premier Li Keqiang greeted Abe as Japan's flag flew outside the opulent Great Hall of the People across from Tiananmen Square, and they reviewed an honour guard before going inside for talks.
According to the Japanese government official, Abe told Li that, "the worldwide community including Japan has been paying close attention to the human rights situation in China".
China and Japan on Friday signed a broad range of agreements on strengthening bilateral ties, pledging to step up cooperation in areas from finance and trade to innovation and securities listings. The two also dined together.
Abe returns to Tokyo on Saturday. "I will also address the Indian community", he wrote.
Mr Abe, who returned to power in 2012 when Sino-Japanese ties were in tatters due to a feud over East China Sea islands, has met President Xi many times since their first chilly conversation in 2014 on the sidelines of a regional summit in Beijing.
