Beijing, Tokyo 'cooperative' partners rather than threats, says China's Xi

ANKARA

Longtime rivals China and Japan have agreed to foster "mutually beneficial" and "stable" relations, with Tokyo expressing its concerns about Beijing's “increasingly aggressive military maneuvers.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba met for the first time on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Peru's capital Lima on Friday to discuss a string of simmering issues, Tokyo-based Kyodo News reported on Saturday.

The new agency quoted Ishiba as telling Xi that Japan is "extremely concerned about China's increasingly aggressive military maneuvers."

"There are many differences of opinion between Japan and China. But despite these differences, I agreed with President Xi to continue to have more meetings," Ishiba told reporters.

Ishiba said he asked Xi to ensure the safety of Japanese citizens, and the Chinese leader promised to do so for "all foreigners."

Meanwhile, China's Foreign Ministry issued a statement, saying Xi reiterated Japan's need to face its history and properly address sensitive issues such as the future of Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own territory.

Xi said that China is ready to work with Japan to establish a "constructive and stable" relationship that meets the requirements of the new era, Beijing-based Xinhua News reported.

He is ready to strengthen communication and coordination with the Japanese prime minister to jointly push China-Japan relations forward and achieve steady and long-term progress, the president said.

China and Japan, he went on to say, are "cooperative" partners rather than threats to each other.

The two sides also discussed the "promised" resumption of seafood imports by China from Japan.

China banned seafood imports from Japan last year over the release of treated radioactive water into the ocean from the disabled Fukushima nuclear power plant.

In September, China said it would "gradually" restrict Japanese seafood imports.

Before the ban, China was the largest importer of Japanese seafood.