Chinese Premier Li Keqiang invited Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to build a “more mature, steady and progressive” relationship together. Abe is in a three day visit to China, the first the Prime Minister did in seven years.
Li said, “the China-Japan relationship has gone through wind and rain in the past four decades, yet peace, friendship and cooperation have always been the mainstream.” And he added “we need adhere to the general direction of peace, friendship and cooperation and conform to the trend of the times, so as to jointly build a more mature, steady and progressive China-Japan ties.”
Li also urged “both sides would work hard to promote regional peace, safeguard multilateralism and free trade, and become the axis of stability, growth and momentum for not just Asia but the world,”
Abe said when he arrived in Beijing yesterday that “Today, Japan and China are playing an essential role in economic growth not only in Asia but in the world,” And, “as problems that cannot be resolved by one country alone have risen, the time has come for Japan and China to jointly contribute to world peace and prosperity.”
Today, China and Japan signed a broad range of agreements covering cooperations in areas from finance and trade to innovation and securities listings. In particular, the currency swap arrangement dropped back in 2013 will be revived.
