The brief talks between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping, held on Monday evening after Xi wrapped up the Group of 20 summit that he chaired in Hangzhou, failed to produce concrete steps for reducing tensions over the repeated incursion of Chinese government vessels into waters around the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea or narrowing the gap between the two governments over China's territorial claims in the South China Sea. The two leaders reportedly agreed to expedite talks for the implementation of a bilateral maritime and aerial communication mechanism to prevent unintended clashes in the East China Sea — on which they both had concurred nearly two years ago but have since not moved forward.
That it was only the third one-on-one meeting between Abe and Xi since both took office in 2012 illustrates the abnormality of ties between the East Asian neighbors. The two leaders need to keep their word and work to establish the maritime and aerial communication mechanism — essentially a hotline between defense officials — as a first step toward restoring bilateral ties to a more constructive level, even though it may be too much to expect rapid improvement in the relationship.
Abe is said to have prioritized holding talks with Xi during his stay in China after Japan's repeated protests through diplomatic channels appeared to have had little impact on halting the activities of large numbers of Chinese vessels in the sea around the Senkakus — including in Japan's territorial waters — for many days in August. It was reportedly only after Abe arrived in Hangzhou on Sunday that Beijing officially informed Tokyo that his meeting with Xi was set for Monday. Xi met with leaders of more than 20 nations, including countries that took part in the summit as observers, before meeting Abe for the first time since April 2015.