Chinese, Japanese leaders meet for 1st time at APEC Summit

By Emre Aytekin and Ahmet Furkan Mercan

TOKYO/BEIJING (AA) - Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida had his first face-to-face meeting Thursday with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Organization (APEC) Summit in Thailand.

Xi said China and Japan, as important countries of Asia and the world, have common interests and cooperation potential. He emphasized that Beijing's importance to bilateral relations has not changed and will not change in the future.

Underlining that 50 years have passed since the establishment of diplomatic relations and the contribution to peace and prosperity in the region by China and Japan, Xi said that they hope to develop relations in the appropriate direction in the new period.

Kishida, who became the Japanese leader last October, said Japan is in favor of the preservation of the international order based on law. He added that the Japanese government conveyed its concerns about China's increasing military influence in the disputed regions of the East China Sea and the South China Sea.

He said the Japanese foreign minister is planning to visit China as he praised the "stable and constructive" relations between the countries.

*Writing by Gozde Bayar