China hints at Xi-Abe summit during APEC leaders meet

BEIJING: China today hinted at a rare summit meeting between its President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of the next month's Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting here.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China will "play its due role as a host to all guests", when answering a question on the possibility of a China-Japan leaders' meeting on the sidelines of the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings.

The Chinese people have a habit that "whoever comes is a guest," Wang said today.

The meetings between top leaders of China and Japan have been rare in the last two years since Japan nationalised the disputed islands in the East China Sea, after which the bilateral ties nosedived with both the countries adopting confrontationist postures.

China also resents Abe's attempts to revise Japan's pacifist Constitution giving far bigger play to the military, which was viewed by Beijing with some hostility due to Japan's militarist past.

Wang said the problems and obstacles in China-Japan relations are objective facts that cannot be ignored.

China hopes Japan will "face the existing problems" and "show sincerity to solve the problems," Wang said.

China will host a series of APEC meetings from November 5 to 11 in Beijing.

The 22th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting will be held on November 10 and 11, which will be attended by Abe and the US President Barrack Obama, among others.