TEHRAN, October 12 - Shinzo Abe will pay the first visit to China by a Japanese prime minister since 2011 later this month, Beijing announced Friday, in the latest sign of warming ties between the rivals.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - Abe will visit from October 25 to 27 and mark the 40th anniversary of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between the two nations, said Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang.
The visit will "elevate our bilateral ties and put bilateral cooperation back on the right track," Lu said at a regular press briefing.
Lu added that the two sides will work to "jointly uphold multilateralism and the free trade system" -- a comment that comes as China and the United States are mired in a trade war that the IMF said this week will hobble global growth.
Lu said a reception was planned to celebrate the Sino-Japanese friendship treaty, which was signed on October 23, 1978.
Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping have met numerous times over the last few years on the sidelines of international events.
But no Japanese prime minister has paid an official visit to China since 2011 and no Chinese president has visited Japan since 2010.
"We hope to have open, frank discussions on not only Japan-China relations but also regional and international situations, including the North Korean issue," Japanese chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters in Tokyo.
"We want to use this visit to boost Japan-China ties to new heights by pushing ahead with concrete cooperation in various fields," he added.
Source: AFP
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