Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, during talks Thursday with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, showed his "understanding" of Japan's deep concern over China's newly declared air defense identification zone in the East China Sea, a Japanese official who attended the meeting said.

Najib and Abe met ahead of special sessions of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations that will start Saturday in Tokyo.

Abe plans to have bilateral meetings with the leaders of all 10 ASEAN countries from Thursday through Sunday.