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Beijing (AFP) – Japan's Shinzo Abe is due to arrive in China on Thursday, the first Asian giant's visit to the Asian giant since relations between the two countries deteriorated six years ago.
Mr Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to discuss ways to improve economic cooperation as the world's second and third economies prepare to face the American attack of trade measures.
Japanese companies want more access to the vast Chinese market, while Beijing is interested in Japanese technology and business know-how.
This visit is the first of a Japanese prime minister since 2011 and is part of a relationship restoration process that has lasted for years, following a disastrous disaster in 2012, when Tokyo had "nationalized" the disputed islands claimed by Beijing.
The incident provoked anti-Japanese riots in China and cast an icy spell that has recently begun to thaw.
Since the clumsy meeting between Abe and Xi in 2014 on the sidelines of a summit, ministerial visits have taken place on both sides and a more moderate speech.
Mr. Abe's three-day trip to Beijing suggests the possibility that the Chinese leader will visit Japan next year.
The two leaders are likely to focus on a range of potential operations, including joint investments in infrastructure in countries in the region, including Indonesia and the Philippines.
They are also supposed to discuss the territorial issue that freezes their relations.
Just days before Abe's trip, Tokyo officially lodged a complaint after Chinese ships crisscrossed the disputed islands that Tokyo calls Senkaku and which Beijing called the Diaoyu Islands.
China has long denounced Japan for what it regarded as an attitude that was not sufficiently contrite with regard to its role in the Second World War.
But before the trip, Beijing has adopted a more cordial attitude than in the past.
During Abe's visit, leaders will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the signing of a treaty between the two countries, intended to set the tone for their relations after the Second World War.
On Wednesday, Chinese spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regular press conference that China believed that countries were "bound to strengthen communication and cooperation and jointly protect international rules to promote peace and development in the world with every effort. "
Japanese media reported that Abe hoped the visit would produce a soft power victory in the form of a pandas diplomacy, with Sendai and Kobe zoos apparently seeking new additions.
