Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, left, and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang stand together at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Friday. (How Hwee Young/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)
The leaders of China and Japan vowed Friday to open a new chapter in their often-fraught relationship and strengthen financial and trading ties between two powerhouse economies. BEIJING —
The pledge, accompanied by multibillion dollar deals, comes as China is mired in a protracted trade war with the United States, the world’s biggest economy and Japan’s most important security ally.
It underscored Chinese President Xi Jinping’s efforts to lessen his country’s exposure to the American market, but also noted a certain amount of pragmatism from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
“From competition to coexistence, Japanese and Chinese bilateral relations have entered a new phase,” Abe told reporters in Beijing after meeting with China’s top two leaders. “With President Xi Jinping, I would like to carve out a new era for China and Japan.”
Xi also struck a remarkably upbeat note about the neighbors’ relationship, saying they should move in a “new historic direction” by working together at a time of growing global “instability and uncertainties.”
“Sound and stable development of China-Japan relations would fundamentally benefit the people of both nations, and that is something that the regional and the international community want,” he said.
[Japan’s prime minister, a Trump buddy, now tries to cozy up to China’s president ]
“From competition to coexistence, Japanese and Chinese bilateral relations have entered a new phase,” Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said. (Lintao Zhang/Pool/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)
This was their first official meeting in seven years and was a sharp departure from their last encounter in Beijing, on the sidelines of a multilateral forum in 2014. Then neither Abe nor Xi could muster the faintest hint of a smile and they could hardly wait to get their handshake for the photographers over and done with.
That visit came during the days of a heated territorial dispute that brought the countries to the brink of military conflict.
That dispute, over a set of islands controlled by Japan, has not been resolved. But this year, on the 40th anniversary of the Sino-Japanese friendship treaty, the two leaders are finding a way to put their differences behind, superficially at least.
Abe was treated to a full red-carpet welcome by Premier Li Keqiang, inspecting an honor guard with him and being celebrated at a reception in the opulent Great Hall of the People.
This was accompanied by the somewhat startling sight of Japanese and Chinese flags flying together along the wide central boulevard between Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, fluttering in front of a huge portrait of Mao Zedong, the founding father of Communist China.
Memories of Japan’s aggression against China during the first half of the 20th century remain strong here.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, left, walks with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang during a welcoming ceremony outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. (Greg Baker/AFP/Getty Images)
Abe brought 500 business representatives with him, and Japanese and Chinese companies had signed deals worth $18 billion during the visit, Li said. He hailed as a sign of the “bright prospects” for the countries’ economic relationship.
Their two central banks also signed a three-year credit swap agreement that will allow them to exchange $30 billion worth of each others’ currencies, a measure that will make it easier for banks to facilitate trade between the two countries.
“Vigorous trade will bring the bonds between our people ever closer,” Abe said Friday.
They also signed deals relating to elderly care and the securities market, although details were vague. And they pledged to work together on joint developments in Southeast Asia and to promote a Chinese-led regional trade deal called the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.
[China’s weak currency is helping it in the trade war — but Beijing doesn’t want it to fall ]
There is still plenty mistrust between the longtime rivals. For one, China is highly suspicious of Abe’s efforts to revise Japan’s pacifist constitution, and for another, Tokyo thinks Beijing is intent on regional domination.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, right, is treated to a full red-carpet welcome by Premier Li Keqiang during a welcoming ceremony. (Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)
But their focus on common interests reveals both leaders’ concerns about their economies.
China is trying to shore up other big markets — it is Japan’s largest trading partner — as President Trump’s tariffs begin to bite at the same time as the domestic economy cools.
And Japan is both concerned about becoming collateral damage in the trade war and about its shrinking market as its population ages rapidly. China’s middle class totals about 250 million people, double the entire population of Japan, representing a tantalizing opportunity for Japanese consumer goods companies.
This comity is likely to cause some discomfit in the White House, where the Trump administration has been seeking to punish China over unfair trading practices and encourage advanced economies like Japan and in the European Union to join it in loudly condemning practices like intellectual property theft.
Read more:
[Trump and China’s Xi seek end to trade war tensions]
[Japan’s Abe stake out new identity in region]
[China tells Trump administration to stop ‘misguided’ actions and allegations]
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