Wen Visit Could Further Enhance Sino-Japanese Relations, But Disagreements Remain

Wen Visit Could Further Enhance Sino-Japanese Relations, But Disagreements Remain

This week, a Chinese leader will address the Japanese Diet for the first time in over two decades. The speech is to be the highlight of Premier Wen Jiabao's visit to Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka starting April 11. His visit is expected to lead to closer relations between China and Japan, which had soured under Japan's previous prime minister.

Relations across the East China Sea have steadily improved since the anti-Japanese riots in China in 2005. Following the election of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last fall, Sino-Japanese relations have rapidly improved, and appear to be on their best terms since the 1970s. But serious disagreements remain and there is no guarantee that the current mood will last.

Negotiators have been meeting in the run up to Wen's visit, laying the groundwork for possible agreements on closer economic cooperation, a standoff with Pyongyang over Japanese citizens kidnapped by North Korea, and gas fields in the East China Sea, amongst other issues. Although final agreements on most if not all of these issues may prove elusive, Beijing and Tokyo are both expecting to announce serious progress while Wen is in Japan.

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