Abe vows to improve Sino-Japanese ties
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E-mail Xinhua, December 23, 2012
Shinzo Abe, leader of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), said in the western Japanese prefecture of Yamaguchi on Saturday that he would make efforts to improve Japan-China ties that have been under severe strain, local press reported.
"Japan-China relations are one of the most important bilateral ties," Abe told Japanese reporters. Abe was in Yamaguchi to visit the cemetery of his father--late Japanese foreign minister Shintaro Abe.
"We want to make efforts to return to the starting point of developing a mutually reciprocal relationship" with China, he added.
Abe is considering sending LDP Vice President Masahiko Komura, head of the Japanese association of lawmakers for friendship with China, to China as a special envoy, the report said, quoting people familiar with the matter.
LDP won a landslide victory in Japan's lower house election last week, enabling Abe to become Japan's next prime minister. Abe is expected to take post of prime minister on Dec. 26.
Sino-Japanese ties have soured after the Japanese government " purchased" some of the Diaoyu islands in the east China Sea in September.
