Executives from the ruling coalition, including the secretary-general of the Liberal Democratic Party, plan to travel to China and South Korea next year in a bid to improve ties, coalition lawmakers said Thursday.
LDP Secretary-General Sadakazu Tanigaki is making arrangements to visit China in early 2015 together with Yoshihisa Inoue, his counterpart in Komeito, the LDP's junior coalition partner, while Toshihiro Nikai, chairman of the LDP's General Council, is also considering making trips to China and South Korea next year, the lawmakers said.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who heads the LDP, held his first talks last month with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, where they agreed to repair bilateral ties hurt by disagreements over territory and wartime history.