Japan’s incoming PM pledges to mend ties with China

JAPAN: Japan's incoming premier Saturday pledged to seek a thaw in ties with China after a report said he will send a special envoy on a fence-mending mission to Beijing. Ties between Japan and China have become increasingly strained over a disputed island chain -- the Tokyo-controlled Senkakus, which Beijing calls the Diaoyus -- with neither side willing to budge after months of bitter wrangling. “I want to make efforts to return to the starting point of developing the mutually beneficial relationship based on common strategic interests,” Shinzo Abe told reporters.

“The Japan-China relationship is one of extremely important bilateral ties,” he said.

“I will shoulder grave responsibility (for Japan's future),” Abe, who will officially be appointed as prime minister on Wednesday, told supporters in his constituency in western Japan earlier Saturday.

AFP