Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida on Sunday agreed with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, that the two countries should strengthen rapprochement efforts amid thawing ties.
The meeting in Seoul took place ahead of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's first one-on-one talks with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, planned for later in the day, amid a slow-but-sure improvement in diplomatic relations.
"We discussed how to improve Sino-Japanese relations," Wang told reporters after his talks with Kishida, which lasted about an hour at a hotel in the South Korean capital.