China's fourth-highest ranking leader, Yu Zhengsheng, said Friday that it is important to have dialogue with Japan but stopped short of signaling whether their leaders will meet on the sidelines of next month's summit of the Group of 20 major economies.
After speaking with Yu in Beijing, a close confidant of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe quoted him as saying that China and Japan "should not be each other's threat and should cooperate."
The confidant, veteran lawmaker Takeo Kawamura, spoke with Yu in Beijing's Great Hall of the People, marking the highest political contact between the countries since tensions suddenly escalated this month over the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. The islets are claimed by China and Taiwan.