China, Japan seek warmer ties against backdrop of US trade friction

Chinese and Japanese flags flutter ahead of Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit in Beijing, China on October 25, 2018. [Photo: Reuters]

Japan’s prime minister arrived in Beijing on Thursday for his first formal bilateral summit with Chinese leaders in seven years as the Asian rivals seek to build on a thaw in ties against a backdrop of trade friction with the United States.

Near Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, flags of both countries lined Changan Avenue, a thoroughfare that cuts through the heart of the capital.