BEIJING — An uneasy handshake Monday between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe marked the first meeting between the two men since either took power, and an awkward first gesture toward easing two years of high tensions.
As the two men approached each other, stern-faced, to shake hands in front of cameras, Abe briefly tried to say something to Xi, who gave no response and turned away, appearing distinctly uncomfortable, to fix his gaze toward the cameras for the rest of the handshake.
The tense moment seemed to show how far apart the two sides remain. Although staged for cameras, their handshake lacked customary trappings such as the national flags displayed in the background.
Their meeting afterward in a closed room at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People lasted just 30 minutes, but that they met at all gave some hope that the two countries could smooth the friction in talks arranged on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
The spat between China and Japan over uninhabited East China Sea islands and other contentious issues has raised concerns of a military confrontation between Asia’s two largest economies, which could draw the U.S. into the fray alongside ally Japan.
Although core divisions won’t be resolved soon, Abe told reporters afterward that the countries made a “first step” toward reconciliation.
“I believe that not only our Asian neighbors but many other countries have long hoped that Japan and China hold talks,” Abe said. “We finally lived up to their expectations and made a first step to improve our ties.”
China also has been angry over what it sees as Japan’s efforts to play down its brutal 20th century invasion of China, a lingering sore point for its 1.3 billion people.
China’s leader must balance the need not to appear too solicitous of Japan, for his domestic audience, while still being statesman enough to host Abe ahead of Tuesday’s summit, when the two men will join 19 other world leaders including President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
China hopes to use the consensus-oriented Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit to assert its ambitions for a larger leadership role in U.S.-dominated trade structures.
In a break from protocol, Abe was made to wait for Xi to arrive at the meeting, rather than being greeted by him on arrival. China’s Foreign Ministry also described the meeting as being at Abe’s “request,” a phrase not used in its reports on Xi’s meetings with South Korean President Park Geun-hye and other foreign leaders Monday.
China’s official Xinhua News Agency said Xi urged Japan to “do more things that help enhance the mutual trust between Japan and its neighboring countries, and play a constructive role in safeguarding the region’s peace and stability.”
The two sides issued a joint statement on Friday agreeing to gradually resume political, diplomatic and security dialogues and reaffirming the central pillars of their post-World War II relations.