[This was their first official meeting in seven years and was a sharp departure from their last encounter in Beijing, on the sidelines of a multilateral forum in 2014. Then neither Abe nor Xi could muster the faintest hint of a smile and they could hardly wait to get their handshake for the photographers over and done with.]
By Anna Fifield
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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo
Abe, left, and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang stand
together at the Great Hall of
the People in Beijing on Friday.
(How Hwee
Young/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)
|
BEIJING —
The leaders of China and Japan vowed Friday to open a new chapter in their
often-fraught relationship and strengthen financial and trading ties between
two powerhouse economies.
The
pledge, accompanied by multibillion dollar deals, comes as China is mired in a
protracted trade war with the United States, the world’s biggest economy and
Japan’s most important security ally.
It
underscored Chinese President Xi Jinping’s efforts to lessen his country’s
exposure to the American market, but also noted a certain amount of pragmatism
from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
“From
competition to coexistence, Japanese and Chinese bilateral relations have
entered a new phase,” Abe told reporters in Beijing after meeting with China’s
top two leaders. “With President Xi Jinping, I would like to carve out a new
era for China and Japan.”
Xi
also struck a remarkably upbeat note about the neighbors’ relationship, saying
they should move in a “new historic direction” by working together at a time of
growing global “instability and uncertainties.”
“Sound
and stable development of China-Japan relations would fundamentally benefit the
people of both nations, and that is something that the regional and the
international community want,” he said.
This
was their first official meeting in seven years and was a sharp departure from
their last encounter in Beijing, on the sidelines of a multilateral forum in
2014. Then neither Abe nor Xi could muster the faintest hint of a smile and
they could hardly wait to get their handshake for the photographers over and
done with.
That
visit came during the days of a heated territorial dispute that brought the
countries to the brink of military conflict.
That
dispute, over a set of islands controlled by Japan, has not been resolved. But
this year, on the 40th anniversary of the Sino-Japanese friendship treaty, the
two leaders are finding a way to put their differences behind, superficially at
least.
Abe
was treated to a full red-carpet welcome by Premier Li Keqiang, inspecting an
honor guard with him and being celebrated at a reception in the opulent Great
Hall of the People.
This
was accompanied by the somewhat startling sight of Japanese and Chinese flags
flying together along the wide central boulevard between Tiananmen Square and
the Forbidden City, fluttering in front of a huge portrait of Mao Zedong, the
founding father of Communist China.
Memories
of Japan’s aggression against China during the first half of the 20th century
remain strong here.
Abe
brought 500 business representatives with him, and Japanese and Chinese
companies had signed deals worth $18 billion during the visit, Li said. He
hailed as a sign of the “bright prospects” for the countries’ economic
relationship.
Their
two central banks also signed a three-year credit swap agreement that will
allow them to exchange $30 billion worth of each others’ currencies, a measure
that will make it easier for banks to facilitate trade between the two
countries.
“Vigorous
trade will bring the bonds between our people ever closer,” Abe said Friday.
They also signed deals relating to elderly
care and the securities market, although details were vague. And they pledged
to work together on joint developments in Southeast Asia and to promote a
Chinese-led regional trade deal called the Regional Comprehensive Economic
Partnership.
There
is still plenty mistrust between the longtime rivals. For one, China is highly
suspicious of Abe’s efforts to revise Japan’s pacifist constitution, and for
another, Tokyo thinks Beijing is intent on regional domination.
But
their focus on common interests reveals both leaders’ concerns about their
economies.
China
is trying to shore up other big markets — it is Japan’s largest trading partner
— as President Trump’s tariffs begin to bite at the same time as the domestic
economy cools.
And
Japan is both concerned about becoming collateral damage in the trade war and
about its shrinking market as its population ages rapidly. China’s middle class
totals about 250 million people, double the entire population of Japan,
representing a tantalizing opportunity for Japanese consumer goods companies.
This
comity is likely to cause some discomfit in the White House, where the Trump
administration has been seeking to punish China over unfair trading practices
and encourage advanced economies like Japan and in the European Union to join
it in loudly condemning practices like intellectual property theft.
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