What a difference five months can make.
Despite a relationship overshadowed by Japan's wartime past and a territorial dispute over islands in the East China Sea, the leaders of China and Japan held a 29-minute meeting on Wednesday on the sidelines of a conference in Jakarta — and even managed to look a bit more relaxed than their last chat in November.
Dressed in suits, with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wearing a blue tie and President Xi Jinping a light purple tie, the heads of Asia's two biggest economies smiled at each other and shook hands firmly, even if their eye contact was a little awkward.