Beijing (AsiaNews) - After more than two years of high regional tensions and bilateral provocations, the leaders of China and Japan met for the first time. Xi Jinping and Shinzo Abe shook hands for photographers during the APEC summit (Asia-Pacific Economic Co-Operation) being held in Beijing. The talks, says an official statement approved by both sides, represents " the first step for improving ties".
Tokyo and Beijing have never been good neighbors. Since the
Japanese occupation of China in the nineteen thirties, relations between the
two neighboring nations have been tense if not of open conflict. The issue of war
reparations, the demand for an official apology for the massacres carried out by
the Land of the Rising Sun in the south of China and the
removal of the names of 14 Japanese war criminals in the Yasukuni shrine
have been unresolved since the surrender of Japan in 1945.
Amid highs and lows, the two had co-existed more or less peacefully. However, things
have worsened significantly since September 2012, when
the Tokyo government "bought" a group of disputed islands from
a private owner, over which Beijing claims sovereignty. The islands - known in
Japanese as "Senkaku" and in Chinese as "Diaoyu" - have a
strategic value and could harbor a subsoil rich in energy and mineral resources.
The sale has sparked the ire of the Chinese government,
which began to send naval and air patrols to the area and to proclaim its
sovereignty over the islands. On several occasions the Beijing military clashed
with its Japanese counterpart, and on
at least occasions came very close to a direct confrontation.
On 7 November, the two governments issued a joint statement in which they "agree
to prevent any escalation of tension." Although in fact the text does not
present possible solutions to resolve the crisis - and the islands are called by
different names according to the signatory - for Prime Minister Abe it is an opportunity "to mutually beneficial relations based on common
strategic interests".
Chinese analysts point out, however, that in the picture where the two leaders shake hands (see above), the Chinese president is "clearly uncomfortable". In fact the two do not see eye to eye and are not even looking in the same direction. Moreover video images of the photo shoot show that Xi Jinping will not respond to attempts at dialogue of the other party, and left immediately after.