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China and Japan leaders hold ice-breaker talks at Apec summit | |
(35 minutes later) | |
The leaders of China and Japan have met for formal talks after more than two years of tension over a territorial row, Japanese officials say. | |
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese PM Shinzo Abe met on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) summit in Beijing. | Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese PM Shinzo Abe met on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) summit in Beijing. |
The talks are the first between the two leaders. Mr Abe said it was the first step to "improving ties". | |
Relations have been soured by the row over islands in the East China Sea. | |
The strategically important islands, known as Diaoyu by China and Senkaku by Japan, are controlled by Japan. | |
Tokyo's decision to purchase three of them from their private Japanese owner in September 2012 led to an escalation in a dispute that has rumbled quietly for years. | |
China has also complained about what it sees as Japan's failure to adequately acknowledge its war-time actions. | |
Mr Abe said the meeting was "the first step for improving ties by returning to mutually beneficial relations based on common strategic interests", according to AFP news agency. | |
He also said the two countries had agreed to start preparations to establish a maritime crisis mechanism, AFP said. | |
There have been fears that a clash - accidental or otherwise - between Chinese and Japanese paramilitary vessels patrolling waters around the disputed islands could trigger a conflict. | |
'Robust conversation' | |
The meeting came with leaders from the 21 Apec member-nations in the Chinese capital for two days of talks. | |
Bilateral meetings between top leaders are taking place on Monday, followed by a formal leaders' summit on Tuesday. | |
The meeting comes as China looks to underline its growing status as regional leader and economic giant. | |
The Apec summit is the biggest event hosted so far by Mr Xi, who took over the Chinese presidency in March 2013. | |
Both US President Barack Obama and Russia leader Vladimir Putin are attending and will deliver speeches later in the day. | |
But the two men are not expected to hold talks, amid frosty ties over Russia's support for separatists fighting in eastern Ukraine. | |
Australian leader Tony Abbott, however, says he is seeking a "robust conversation" with Mr Putin over MH17, the Malaysia Airlines plane brought down by a missile over Ukraine. | |
Talks would focus on "our absolute expectation that Russia will be as good as its word, that it will fully co-operate with the investigations that are underway and that it will do what it can to ensure that justice is done", Mr Abbott said. | |
The plane is believed to have been hit by a surface-to-air missile fired from an area controlled by pro-Russian rebels. Russian officials have denied the allegations. |