Chinese President Xi Jinping voiced his willingness to improve relations with Japan during his first face-to-face summit meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio.

The two leaders met in Thailand on Thursday on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit.

A smiling Xi shook hands with Kishida in front of the two countries' flags and said he was very pleased to be able to see the Japanese leader in person.

In his opening remarks, Xi said the two countries are jointly celebrating the 50th anniversary of the normalization of their diplomatic ties this year.
He said the world is now entering a turbulent period of transformation.

He went on to say Japan and China, which sit next to each other, are important countries for Asia and the world and share a number of common interests and have room to cooperate.

He said the significance of bilateral relations remains unchanged and will never change in the future.

Xi called on Kishida to work together to fulfill their duties as political leaders, grasp the direction of bilateral ties from a strategic point of view and build relations that meet the demands of the new era.