Improving ties serves the interests of China and Japan
The message from the first trip to Beijing by a Japanese leader in seven years was clear: the world’s second- and third-biggest economies need to cooperate, not compete. President Xi Jinping’s and Premier Li Keqiang’s meetings with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe confirmed that relations between China and Japan were no longer frosty and there was every desire to work together for mutual benefit. On the 40th anniversary of a peace and friendship treaty, the pledges made for stability and agreements struck on trade and investment were fitting. It is the right strategy to smooth ties and create an environment to eventually deal with long-standing issues behind animosity and mistrust.
