Japan and China warned North Korea not to conduct a nuclear weapons test and agreed to improve their own relations as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made the first visit by a Japanese leader to Beijing in five years. | “``We saw eye to eye on the North Korean nuclear test, which is that it can't be tolerated,'' Abe said...” |
Asia's two largest economies are seeking to bolster ties soured by former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, where 14 Japanese leaders convicted of war crimes are memorialized. In addition to finding a common view on North Korea, Hu and Abe said they will try to resolve a dispute about offshore gas deposits.
| “China is Japan's second-biggest trading partner, and Japanese exports rose 26 percent to 4.96 trillion yen ($42 billion) in the first six months of the year...” |
Politics and economics are ``the tandem wheels'' of better ties between the two countries ``and must be built on mutual interests,'' Abe, 52, said. China is Japan's second-biggest trading partner, and Japanese exports there rose 26 percent to 4.96 trillion yen ($42 billion) in the first six months of the year from the same period in 2005, according to Japanese finance ministry figures.