China, Japan seek warmer ties against backdrop of U.S. trade friction

China, Japan seek warmer ties against backdrop of U.S. trade friction The Saigon Times Daily Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe shake hands during their meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, October 25, 2018 – PHOTO: REUTERS TOKYO/BEIJING (REUTERS) – Japan’s prime minister arrived in Beijing on Thursday for his first formal bilateral summit with Chinese leaders in seven years as the Asian rivals seek to build on a thaw in ties against a backdrop of trade friction with the United States. Shinzo Abe’s three-day visit is expected to carve out new scope for cooperation between Asia’s two biggest economies. It is also expected to promote trust, which has been fragile at times since they restored diplomatic relations in 1972. “Japan and China are playing an indispensable role in the economic development of not just Asia but the world,” Abe said in a speech at a reception in Beijing soon after he arrived. In the past year, China has stepped up its outreach to Japan and others as it locked horns over trade with the United States. While Japan, worried about China’s growing naval power, is keen for closer economic ties with its biggest trading partner, it must manage that rapprochement without upsetting its key security ally, the United States, with which it has trade problems of its own. Abe, who returned to power in 2012 when Sino-Japanese ties were in tatters due to a feud over East China Sea islands,… [Read full story]