The Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made clear his nation’s intention to improve ties with Japan on Sunday, Reuters reports, making reference to the two countries’ often antagonistic shared history.
Despite a series of territorial disputes surrounding a cluster of islets in the East China Sea, Sino-Japanese relations have been showing signs of healing in recent months. Wang told his Japanese counterpart Taro Kono, that his visit to Beijing, was a show of Japan’s wish to improve political and economic ties, something in both countries’ interest.
Wang’s announcement was optimistic but realistic of the many “disturbances and obstacles” between China and Japan. He said in a press-conference “China-Japan ties always sail against the current, either forging ahead or drifting backward,” and that “we hope that the Japanese side will neither relax in its efforts nor fall back, and turn the spoken statements into concrete actions.”