Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, standing only a row apart, chose not to speak to each other during a group photo session at a nuclear summit in Washington, highlighting the state of relations between Asia's two biggest economies.
The absence of talks between the leaders at the two-day summit comes as Japan steps up its criticism of China's territorial ambitions in the South China Sea and as ships and planes from both nations tail one another around contested islets in the East China Sea. Both nations support recent United Nations Security Council sanctions on North Korea for its weapons program.
"Just the fact they had an opportunity, both being in the same place at the same time, and chose not to meet shows a missed opportunity," Ralph Cossa, president of the Pacific Forum CSIS in Honolulu, said. "I'm not sure if I'd read an awful lot into it, but it reflects a general cooling or at least less eagerness on both sides to keep the momentum going."