China, Japan Push for Free Trade as Both Grapple With Trump Demands

Mr. Xi agreed and said both sides should defend multilateralism—the principle of addressing trade issues at bodies such as the World Trade Organization—and promote an open global economy, Chinese state media said.

The vocal free-trade advocacy is a relatively new stance for both countries, which have been criticized over the decades for their own trade barriers. Japan’s postwar rapid growth in the 1950s through 1980s—like China’s more recently—came with a heavy dose of state guidance and promotion of favored industries that often left foreign companies sidelined.

Mr. Abe, however, has played down that history, depicting Japan in a speech to parliament on Wednesday as a nation that has pushed for global free trade since the 1940s.

The two leaders’ generally friendly meeting symbolized a better ties between China and Japan, which have tussled in recent years over disputed islands in the East China Sea and other security issues.

“We have returned relations to the proper track,” said Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, who also met Mr. Abe.

China’s willingness to roll out the red carpet for Mr. Abe was impelled in part, analysts say, by China’s need for friends in the region while it battles President Trump over trade issues. Japan also is looking for better relations because China is its biggest export market and a source of tourists.

Companies and official bodies of the two nations signed more than 50 agreements to cooperate on projects in third countries. That was a key request by Beijing, which is looking for partners for an international infrastructure-building initiative.

Mr. Abe was greeted at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People on Friday by a People’s Liberation Army band playing the Japanese national anthem, which calls for the everlasting reign of the emperor, under whose name Japan occupied China before and during World War II.

There were still some reminders of differences. According to both sides, Mr. Xi stressed the need for proper handling of sensitive issues such as wartime history and the status of Taiwan, a democratically governed island which Beijing views as a renegade province and with which Japan has close ties.

In his meeting with Mr. Li, Mr. Abe raised the issue of domestic human rights in China, Japanese officials said, adding that Mr. Abe was alluding to the mass detention of Muslims in China’s far west. They declined to give Mr. Li’s response.

Mr. Abe is trying to fend off Mr. Trump’s threat to impose tariffs of up to 25% on Japanese cars and car parts. Japanese officials said that threat forced them in September to agree to two-way talks with the U.S. on trade, undercutting Mr. Abe’s earlier policy of pushing for trade agreements involving many countries.

China, meanwhile, is at loggerheads with the U.S. over Mr. Trump’s plan to increase tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese imports to 25% on Jan. 1 from the current 10%.

Japan shares some of Mr. Trump’s concerns involving China. Mr. Abe told Mr. Xi that China needs to scale back subsidies for state companies and improve intellectual-property protection, according to the Japanese spokesman.

Mr. Li said Beijing would “firmly protect” intellectual-property rights.

It was the first official visit by Mr. Abe since he took office for his current term in 2012, although he has visited China for international gatherings. The last Japanese prime minister to make an official visit to Beijing was Yoshihiko Noda in 2011.