Japan’s top envoy Taro Kono breaks the ice, but China sees ties as ‘still cool’

There were signs of a thawing in relations between China and Japan on Sunday as the two sides agreed to resume reciprocal visits by their leaders and reaffirmed their shared stance on North Korea.
But visiting Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono was told by his counterpart Wang Yi that although Beijing welcomed Tokyo’s efforts to improve ties, it urged Japan to “put words into real actions”.
Kono also met Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and State Councillor Yang Jiechi during his trip to Beijing – the first by a Japanese foreign minister for nearly two years.
China and Japan were improving their bilateral ties, Li told Kono, describing relations between the two countries as “barely warm, and still cool”.
The two sides also agreed to hold a postponed trilateral summit with South Korea “as soon as possible”, the official Xinhua news agency reported.