Ball game at China-Japan summit

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Japan's Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda has played a game of catch with his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao, during talks to improve Sino-Japanese relations.

The two leaders also played a ball game last April, when Mr Wen visited Japan.

Such scenes would have been unthinkable two years ago when Japan's attitude to its military past soured relations.

Correspondents say the talks have been hailed as a success by both sides, although there is still no agreement on a disputed East China Sea gas-field.

The two leaders donned their baseball uniforms after three days of talks in Beijing.

"I have asked prime minister Wen to play catch with me," Japanese officials quoted Mr Fukuda as saying.

"I'm glad to play with you whenever," Mr Wen is reported to have replied.

Thawing relations

The two men agreed to co-operate on climate change and trade, and to increase youth exchanges between the two countries.

But despite 11 previous rounds of talks, no agreement was reached on the two countries' territorial dispute over lucrative gas fields in the East China Sea.

China does not accept the maritime border which Japan has proposed as a starting point for negotiations.

The two leaders agreed only to raise discussions to vice-ministerial level.

Earlier in his trip, Mr Fukuda visited the ancestral home of the Chinese philosopher Confucius, and toured a Toyota car factory in the city of Tianjin.

Relations between the two countries grew frosty between 2001 and 2006, when Junichiro Koizumi was prime minister of Japan.

Mr Koizumi's decision to visit a controversial shrine dedicated to Japan's war dead - including war criminals responsible for atrocities in China - was greeted with anger in China.

His successors - Shinzo Abe and now Mr Fukuda - have chosen not to visit the shrine, and as a result Beijing has decided to re-start high-level contact with Japanese officials.