China urges Japan to normalise bilateral ties

China urged Japan to normalise the bilateral ties as the foreign ministers of two countries met here on Sunday.

According to the South China Morning Post, the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Japanese counterpart, Taro Kono, that Beijing hopes to work with Japan to get relations back onto a normal track.

The relations between the two countries have remained strained for long due to their painful history and a long-running territorial dispute over a cluster of East China Sea islets.

In November, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met on the sidelines of a regional summit in Vietnam.

According to a statement from the Chinese foreign ministry, Wang told Koon that improved ties were in both nations' interests.

"China-Japan relations have always been like a boat going against a current, and if there is no progress then things go backwards", he said.

--ANI