With a profoundly awkward handshake Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping met formally for the first time Monday for roughly 25 minutes, marking a slight thaw in the countries’ strained international relations, Bloomberg reported. While Abe has long sought a meeting, his visit to Beijing for this week’s APEC summit is his first trip to China since taking office in December 2012. Even as Chinese tourists flock to Japan, Japanese investment in China slumped by half in the first half of 2014 and surveys point to animosity among the public in both nations.