China, Japan leaders reaffirm desire to improve diplomatic ties

Both Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida have expressed their desire to improve relations in the first meeting of the leaders of Asia’s two largest economies in three years during the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Forum in Bangkok. Xi expressed willingness to work with Japan to maintain a stable relationship while Kishida acknowledged that both sides had a responsibility to uphold peace and security in the world. Kishida said the meeting was a good start to a dialogue towards a more constructive and stable Japan-China relationship. Xi told Kishida that the importance of China-Japan relations hasn’t changed and will not change, and he is willing to work with the latter and take responsibility to build better China-Japan relations that meet the requirements of the new era.