By keeping its word, Japan can improve bilateral ties

President Xi Jinping's meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Osaka last week produced a number of consensuses, with both sides agreeing to build Sino-Japanese relations by meeting the needs of a new era so they can jointly safeguard world peace and promote common development.

The thawing of Sino-Japanese relations last year - after Premier Li Keqiang visited Japan in May and Abe visited China in October - was partly due to the rise of unilateralism and protectionism in some parts of the world and the urgent need to oppose them. And since ensuring a free and fair trade order is a shared goal of the world's second-and third-largest economies, they need to make greater efforts to realize that goal.

Besides, the two sides have a wide range of fields to deepen cooperation, such as the Korean Peninsula denuclearization process, investment in third-party markets, environmental protection and the high-tech sector, which can serve as an important foundation for the continuous improvement of bilateral ties.