Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Wednesday he had been formally invited to visit China and would do so at "an appropriate time", as the regional powers try to warm ties.

Chinese premier Li Keqiang is in Tokyo for talks on North Korea and bilateral ties, a month after the two Asian rivals pledged a "new starting point" for relations.

"As we mark the 40th anniversary of the Japan-China peace and friendship treaty this year, I wish to build a relationship where leaders can easily visit each other," Abe said after talks with Li.

"Premier Li offered an invitation for me to visit China. I expressed my gratitude and said I look forward to visiting China at an appropriate time."

Abe has visited China for regional summits in recent years, holding talks on the sidelines of APEC meetings with President Xi Jinping.

But the last official visit by a Japanese prime minister to Beijing was in 2011, when Yoshihiko Noda met President Hu Jintao.

Relations between the two countries soured in 2012.

Plans for reciprocal visits by Abe and Xi have been in the works for some time, but Li's invitation appeared to be the first formal signal.

"As Prime Minister Abe has just said, and I agree with him, an official visit at an appropriate time is necessary," Li said.

The world's second- and third-largest economies have a fraught relationship, complicated by longstanding maritime disputes and Japan's wartime legacy.

The dispute over islands in the East China Sea -- known as the "Senkakus" in Japanese and the "Diaoyu" by the Chinese -- remains a source of tension.

But Tokyo is eager to get the relationship back on a firmer footing, especially as it fears being shut out of negotiations on North Korea, which have proceeded at a breakneck pace in recent months with Japan largely on the sidelines.

Li arrived in Tokyo Tuesday to take part in three-way talks with Abe and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, but is staying on to meet local officials and businesses.

Abe said Thursday the countries had agreed to start a communication "mechanism" to avoid unexpected confrontations at sea or in the air.

Tokyo has regularly protested Chinese activity around the Senkaku islands, including by boats carrying out maritime research in Tokyo's exclusive economic zone near the disputed islands.

Relations between the two deteriorated in 2012, when Tokyo "nationalised" some of the islets, but have gradually improved since then.

In Japan-China ties, ibis outreach but no panda diplomacy
Tokyo (AFP) May 9, 2018 - China has famously used its cuddly panda bears as a diplomatic tool, but to mark warming ties with Japan it is offering a distinctly more angular gift: two crested ibises.

To some, the bird might not appear much of a looker: it has a bright red face with a long narrow beak that curves downward, and its eponymous crest resembles the wispy white mullet of an ageing rocker.

But after Japan's last wild crested ibis died in 2003, rendering the species extinct in its homeland, the country has looked abroad to reintroduce the fowl.

Visiting Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang is expected to sign a deal to deliver a pair of the birds when he meets with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe later on Wednesday.

They will be the first ibis offerings from China in years, after Beijing began helping reintroduce the species to Japan with several donations over a decade ago.

Japan is now home to several hundred crested ibises, descended from just a handful of gifts, but environmentalists fear that the population's undiverse heritage may leave it vulnerable to disease.

The crested ibis has a storied history in Japan, appearing in artwork and literature going back centuries, and it was once so common it was even considered a pest.

But it was heavily hunted for its white feathers and its meat, and even its designation as a protected species failed to stop development that wiped out its natural habitats.

While the feathered gifts have garnered plenty of local media attention and will be warmly welcomed by conservationists, Japan will be missing out on a more iconic Chinese diplomatic gift.

Local media reported that Japan was hoping Beijing would loan it several giant pandas for zoos in Kobe and Sendai, but an agreement was apparently not reached in time for Li's visit.

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