Premier urges Japan to help stabilize ties

Tokyo was urged to “play a constructive role” and make real efforts to stabilize bilateral relations with Beijing when Premier Li Keqiang met with the visiting Japanese national security adviser on Thursday.

China and Japan should accumulate positive factors and reduce negative ones to get the still-fragile bilateral ties back on a normal track, Li told Shotaro Yachi, who is attending the third ChinaJapan High-level Political Dialogue in Beijing.

“As next year marks the 45th anniversary of China and Japan normalizing their diplomatic ties, … I hope the two countries can take the opportunity to appropriately tackle old and emerging disputes, manage conflicts and differences, and steadily promote exchanges and cooperation to safeguard the improving process of bilateral ties,” Li said.

Beijing expects Tokyo to stand by its statement that China’s economic development as an opportunity, and take actions to safeguard peace and stability in the seas between the two countries, he added.

In a letter Yachi read to Li during the meeting, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe vowed to work with China to establish stable bilateral ties based on mutual benefit.

Yachi said Japan will boost high-level exchanges with China, manage differences over the East China Sea, safeguard maritime peace and stability and reinforce pragmatic cooperation in fields including finance and environmental protection.

Yachi also met with State Councilor Yang Jiechi earlier on Thursday.

Both meetings provided further opportunities for the two countries to exchange views after they agreed on Wednesday to consider initiating a maritime and airspace liaison procedure.

Their bilateral ties have been challenged by territorial disputes.

Yachi heads the Japanese National Security Council, which was launched by Abe in 2013 to guide foreign and defense policies.

In July last year, Yang co-hosted the first political dialogue with Yachi in Beijing — the first interaction since bilateral ties plunged to a low point over the Diaoyu Islands dispute. Three months later, the two co-hosted another dialogue in Tokyo to improve ties.

Huo Jiangang, a researcher of Japanese studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Studies, said, “Yachi can be seen to be paving the way for Abe’s participation in the G20 Leaders Summit (in Hangzhou on Sept 4 and 5).