Takeshi Iwaya made his first trip to Beijing since becoming Japan's foreign minister in October. Chinese officials said often difficult bilateral ties were "at a critical period of improvement and development.

China and Japan agreed Wednesday to set up talks on often contentious security issues as they seek to improve a relationship riven in recent years by a range of i

Disputes persist between China and Japan with "intrusion of Chinese vessels into Japanese territorial waters around the Tokyo-governed, Beijing-claimed Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, as well as the detention of Japanese nationals over espionage allegations,