SHANGHAI (Reuters) -Chinese President Xi Jinping told Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in their first meeting that China hoped Japan would “properly handle” major issues such as history and Taiwan, according to Chinese state media on Saturday.
Xi called for the two Asian neighbours to safeguard the global free trade system, as well as stable and unimpeded production and supply chains, as they met on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit in Lima, Peru.
Ishiba told Xi he wanted to build a “constructive and stable” relationship but asked him to reverse an import ban on Japanese seafood and strengthen safety measures for Japanese nationals in China after recent fatal stabbings, and expressed concerns about Chinese maritime activities.
According to a Japanese readout of the meeting, Ishiba asked Xi to release Japanese nationals detained in China.
It was the first meeting between Ishiba, who took office in October, and the long-ruling Chinese leader.
The leaders of Japan, South Korea and the United States met on Friday, seeking to cement diplomatic progress before Donald Trump takes office in an administration that many fear could upend alliances worldwide.
In recent months, Chinese and Japanese officials have moved to resume several consultative talks for the first time in years, signalling a possible steadying of testy relations.
China and Japan have been at odds in recent years over issues including territorial claims, trade tensions and Beijing’s anger over Tokyo’s decision to release treated water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea, which triggered the seafood ban.
Also raising concerns about anti-Japan sentiment in China have been two recent attacks in China – a stabbing that killed a 10-year-old Japanese schoolboy in Shenzhen in September, and June stabbing that killed a Chinese woman trying to shield a Japanese mother and her child from an assailant.
(Reporting by Shanghai and Beijing Newsroom and John Geddie in Tokyo; Editing by William Mallard)