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Japan and China navigating closer ties without resolving 'fundamental' issues: Analysts
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Mr Toshihiro Nikai, secretary-general of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, talks to China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi during their meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Aug 31, 2018.
PHOTO: AFP
TOKYO - Sino-Japanese ties are now at their closest since Tokyo nationalised the Senkaku/Diaoyu islets in 2012, but Japanese analysts say the improvement is confined to the areas of business, the economy and people-to-people exchange.
Neither side, however, has budged on strategic issues like their territorial dispute and each eyes with mistrust the other's defence strategy and expanding military budget. Japan named China as a key security threat in its latest Defence White Paper, released on Tuesday (Aug 28).
