(Reuters) - Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang looks forward to "quickly reviving" high-level economic talks with Japan, he was quoted by visiting Japanese executives as saying on Wednesday, indicating a possible thaw in relations between Asia's two biggest economies.
Shoiichi Ikuta, the spokesman for a group of some 200 Japanese business people who were in Beijing for an annual meeting with the Chinese government, said the two sides agreed that Sino-Japanese relations were important for the world.
"He (Wang) said he looked forward to restarting Japan-Chinese high-level dialogue," Ikuta quoted Wang as saying in reference to economic issues.
Ties between China and Japan have soured in recent months as the two sparred over a long-running territorial dispute about a small chain of islets in the East China Sea, and as rows related to the legacy of Japan's wartime aggression continued to fester.
In a separate discussion, mid-level Chinese and Japanese officials held talks on Tuesday and Wednesday on the East China Sea and other maritime issues, in the coastal city of Qingdao, state media reported on Wednesday.
The two sides agreed "in principle" to resume high-level talks on maritime issues by the year's end or the beginning of next year, the official Chinese Xinhua news agency said.
The talks would focus on a maritime communication mechanism linking both countries' defense authorities, according to a statement by Japan's Foreign Ministry.
As relations between the world's second- and third-largest economies soured, Japanese firms have slashed their direct investment in China.
It fell nearly a fifth in 2013 and has skidded another 40 percent to 300.8 billion yen ($2.8 billion) in the first half of 2014 on an annual basis.
The visit by the Japanese executives came as Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe signaled his hopes to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping at an Asia-Pacific summit in Beijing in November. Abe has not met any Chinese leaders since returning to power late in 2012.
NO COOPERATION
The visit also coincided with a series of antitrust or price-fixing investigations by China that sometimes mirrored those made by Western regulators in the past, and which have implicated foreign firms such as Microsoft (MSFT.O) and Toyota (7203.T).
Some foreign companies said they were unfairly targeted, an accusation China has denied. Sadayuki Sakakibara, one of the delegates who is the head of Japan's business lobby, Keidanren, said he remained confident about China's economy despite its slowdown, and that he would like to increase investment there.
"Japanese-Chinese trade and investment have decreased, especially for this year," said Sakakibara, who is also the chairman of synthetic fiber maker Toray Industries (3402.T). "The current atmosphere is: communication for cooperation has stopped.This has affected economic and foreign relations."
This was despite the fact that China's business environment has improved, and Chinese businesses were keen for various business deals with Japan, including a free-trade agreement. China, Japan and South Korea have had talks about a trilateral free trade deal.
Shoiichi Ikuta, the spokesman for a group of some 200 Japanese business people who were in Beijing for an annual meeting with the Chinese government, said the two sides agreed that Sino-Japanese relations were important for the world.
"He (Wang) said he looked forward to restarting Japan-Chinese high-level dialogue," Ikuta quoted Wang as saying in reference to economic issues.
Ties between China and Japan have soured in recent months as the two sparred over a long-running territorial dispute about a small chain of islets in the East China Sea, and as rows related to the legacy of Japan's wartime aggression continued to fester.
In a separate discussion, mid-level Chinese and Japanese officials held talks on Tuesday and Wednesday on the East China Sea and other maritime issues, in the coastal city of Qingdao, state media reported on Wednesday.
The two sides agreed "in principle" to resume high-level talks on maritime issues by the year's end or the beginning of next year, the official Chinese Xinhua news agency said.
The talks would focus on a maritime communication mechanism linking both countries' defense authorities, according to a statement by Japan's Foreign Ministry.
As relations between the world's second- and third-largest economies soured, Japanese firms have slashed their direct investment in China.
It fell nearly a fifth in 2013 and has skidded another 40 percent to 300.8 billion yen ($2.8 billion) in the first half of 2014 on an annual basis.
The visit by the Japanese executives came as Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe signaled his hopes to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping at an Asia-Pacific summit in Beijing in November. Abe has not met any Chinese leaders since returning to power late in 2012.
NO COOPERATION
The visit also coincided with a series of antitrust or price-fixing investigations by China that sometimes mirrored those made by Western regulators in the past, and which have implicated foreign firms such as Microsoft (MSFT.O) and Toyota (7203.T).
Some foreign companies said they were unfairly targeted, an accusation China has denied. Sadayuki Sakakibara, one of the delegates who is the head of Japan's business lobby, Keidanren, said he remained confident about China's economy despite its slowdown, and that he would like to increase investment there.
"Japanese-Chinese trade and investment have decreased, especially for this year," said Sakakibara, who is also the chairman of synthetic fiber maker Toray Industries (3402.T). "The current atmosphere is: communication for cooperation has stopped.This has affected economic and foreign relations."
This was despite the fact that China's business environment has improved, and Chinese businesses were keen for various business deals with Japan, including a free-trade agreement. China, Japan and South Korea have had talks about a trilateral free trade deal.
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