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Japan PM ‘very pleased’ about lawmaker’s meeting with Xi

BEIJING — Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has expressed his delight at knowing Chinese President Xi Jinping attended a dinner party in Beijing aimed at promoting exchanges between the two countries, a lawmaker said yesterday.

Mr Xi (right) holding hands with Mr Nikai during the China-Japan friendship exchange meeting yesterday. Photo: Reuters

Mr Xi (right) holding hands with Mr Nikai during the China-Japan friendship exchange meeting yesterday. Photo: Reuters

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BEIJING — Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has expressed his delight at knowing Chinese President Xi Jinping attended a dinner party in Beijing aimed at promoting exchanges between the two countries, a lawmaker said yesterday.

Mr Toshihiro Nikai, a veteran lawmaker from Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), said he has already spoken to Mr Abe over the phone and explained to the Premier about his conversation with Mr Xi at the event on Saturday in the Great Hall of the People.

“As Prime Minister Abe was paying attention to our meeting (with Xi), he was very pleased,” Mr Nikai told a press conference to wrap up his three-day visit to Beijing.

The event, aimed at expanding both countries’ people-to-people exchanges, was attended by a Japanese delegation of more than 3,000 people, including lawmakers, local government officials and representatives from the tourism industry, and some senior Chinese officials.

Mr Xi’s remarks at the gathering are seen by Japanese government officials as the clearest sign yet that Beijing is prepared to seek a broader thawing of relations with Tokyo.

In his first appearance at such an event involving Japan since taking office in 2012, Mr Xi said that he wants to promote friendly cooperation between Asia’s two biggest economies.

“China attaches great importance to developing Sino-Japanese relations,” Mr Xi said in his speech at the reception dinner for the delegation. “China has not changed this basic policy and will not change it in the future.”

Although Mr Xi criticised Japan’s past militarism during his address, which lasted about 10 minutes, much of his speech focused on the need to strengthen people-to-people exchanges, especially those between younger generations from both sides, for further improvement of bilateral relations.

Chinese media also gave favourable coverage to the delegation’s visit and highlighted Mr Xi’s future-oriented remarks, in a significant departure from the past several years of critical reports about Japan, when ties between the two countries were chilled by disputes over territory and wartime history.

At the dinner party, Mr Nikai, who headed the Japanese delegation, also delivered a personal letter from Mr Abe to Mr Xi.

Known for his good relations with China, Mr Nikai said the delegation’s visit, which was not funded by the Japanese government, has succeeded in setting the stage for accelerating the pace at which tensions between Tokyo and Beijing ease.

The 76-year-old LDP heavyweight played a major role in organising the delegation’s trip to Beijing in his belief that the number of Japanese tourists to China should be increased for public diplomacy to work more effectively in the future.

After listening to Mr Xi’s remarks, Mr Nikai said he has felt that Japanese people in various fields should make more efforts to build a better future for the two countries.

Touching also on a statement Mr Abe is due to release this summer on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, Mr Nikai said: “It has been brought to international attention. I am hoping it to be a good one that will help (Japan) to have friendly external ties.” KYODO NEWS

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