Japan's Foreign Minister Taro Kono urged China to maintain pressure on North Korea to curb its nuclear weapons programme when he met his Chinese counterpart yesterday.
Mr Kono told Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi that the two countries share a major responsibility in safeguarding the stability and prosperity of Asia and the world at large.
"Not only do we need to manage our bilateral relations, but we also need to work together to deal with issues facing the entire globe, in particular the issue of North Korea, which is the matter at hand for international society as a whole. We desire to extend mutual cooperation between our two countries in working towards resolving this issue," he said.
The two sides also agreed to resume reciprocal visits by their leaders, in a sign that Asia's two biggest economies want to strengthen ties. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the signing of a bilateral friendship treaty.
Mr Kono, who also met Premier Li Keqiang and State Councillor Yang Jiechi during his two-day visit here, said Mr Li replied "in a positive manner" to visiting Japan as soon as possible to join a trilateral summit that includes South Korea.
Seoul hosted the 2015 trilateral meeting and Tokyo was due to host the next one in 2016. But the plan was dropped amid political turmoil in South Korea that saw the ouster of then President Park Geun Hye.
The three countries have been rotating summit-hosting duties since 2008, but the meetings were not held in 2013 and 2014 after a chill in Japan-China relations over the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands dispute.
The two foreign ministers agreed that a trilateral summit should take place as soon as possible, they said in a statement released after their four-hour meeting.
This sets the stage for Mr Li to visit Japan for the first time since he took office in 2013. It would also lay the groundwork for reciprocal visits by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to Beijing and Chinese President Xi Jinping to Tokyo, Japan's Foreign Ministry spokesman Norio Maruyama said.
Mr Xi and Mr Abe have yet to meet on their own soil since taking office. They did, however, meet last November on the sidelines of the Apec summit in Vietnam.
While the two ministers were keen to show that ties are on an upswing, the dispute over islets in the East China Sea, that has chilled relations since 2012, remains. Tokyo's decision to "nationalise" some of the islets that year led to a major falling out with Beijing.
Mr Kono yesterday lodged a protest over Beijing's decision to send a nuclear-powered submarine to the area earlier this month.
On his part, Mr Wang said ties between the two neighbours are like a boat trying to make headway against the current, and that the two countries need to overcome the turbulence and obstacles that stand in their way if they are to make any progress in improving their relations.
In an editorial published after the meeting, China Daily said Japan needs to match words with deeds, and that "the status quo in the East China Sea is the fundamental obstacle impeding healthy relations".
Mr Kono's trip to China was the first by a Japanese foreign minister since his predecessor Fumio Kishida visited in April 2016. He returned to Tokyo yesterday evening.
