Finance Minister Taro Aso said Saturday he and his Chinese counterpart, Lou Jiwei, agreed to prepare for a resumption of regular bilateral talks suspended since April 2012 amid souring relations.
During the first bilateral meeting between the finance ministers of Japan and China in over 2½ years, Aso and Lou also confirmed the two sides will hold the next regular finance minister-level discussions in Beijing, Aso told reporters in Brisbane, Australia, where he was attending this weekend's Group of 20 summit.
Aso and Lou met less than week after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Monday, the first direct bilateral summit in over two years. The finance ministers' meeting was held on the sidelines of the G-20 gathering.
Tokyo and Beijing had arranged to hold dialogue every two years between their finance ministers to facilitate financial cooperation, but discussions have stalled due to failure to repair bilateral ties amid territorial and historical clashes.