Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's long-sought meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping was supposed to herald a fresh start to soured relations. Their body language told a different story.
The two men, both in gray suits, looked ill-at-ease as they shook hands for the cameras at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing before heading into a 25-minute discussion on the sidelines of a regional summit. The leaders of Asia's two biggest economies weighed each other up with stern faces, barely making eye contact after a 2½-year hiatus in formal top-level meetings caused by rows over territory and Japan's wartime past.
While Abe later told reporters the two had talked of greater cooperation and said it was the first step toward improving ties, China's official Xinhua News Agency pointed out Xi had granted the meeting at Japan's request. The frigid atmosphere captured in photos splayed across China's state-owned media was in stark contrast to those depicting a smiling reunion between Xi and South Korean President Park Geun-hye.