TOKYO, (PNA/Itar-Tass) — Tokyo plans to search for ways of improving relations with Beijing and China, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Sunday before leaving for a trip to Indonesia where he is due to attend a summit of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum /APEC/.
He said he would like to exchange opinion with Chinese President Xi Jinping and South Korean President Park Geun-hye if the situation at the summit was conducive to it.
If Tokyo manages to return relations with Seoul and Beijing to the normal track then this will wield a good effect on the entire situation in Asia and the Pacific.
Japan’s relations with China and South Korea remain tense over many years in the wake of a territorial dispute and also in connection with Tokyo’s approaches to many problems of history, including that Japanese officials make to Yasukuni Temple – a Shinto shrine that is broadly viewed in Japan as a symbol of the country’s past militarism.