CHINESE President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took the first tentative steps today to easing bilateral tensions with an ice-breaking meeting during the Asia-Pacific conference in Beijing.

The countries are divided by mutual claims over uninhabited East China Sea islands that lie in potentially oil-rich waters.

But China also deplores Japan’s reluctance to recognise the brutal reality of its invasion and occupation of China in the 1930s and ’40s.

“I believe that not only our Asian neighbours but many other countries have long hoped that Japan and China would hold talks,” said Mr Abe after the two men shook hands in front of cameras, unsmiling.

“We finally lived up to their expectations and made a first step to improve our ties.”

China’s Foreign Ministry stressed that their meeting had been at Mr Abe’s request, revealing that President Xi had urged Japan to “do more things that help enhance the mutual trust between Japan and its neighbouring countries and play a constructive role in safeguarding the region’s peace and stability.”

The two sides had issued a joint statement last Friday agreeing to gradually resume political, diplomatic and security dialogues and reaffirming the central pillars of their post-World War II relations.

Japan acknowledged differing views over the status of the islands called Diaoyu in Chinese and Senkaku in Japan, meeting China’s demand that Tokyo acknowledge that the islands’ sovereignty is in dispute.

Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) summit leaders are due to take up a Chinese-led regional free trade initiative this morning, despite Washington’s worries that it might detract from a separate US-promoted pact, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TTP).

US President Barack Obama hosted a meeting at the US embassy last night for the 11 other countries, excluding China, that are pursuing the long-delayed trade pact.

Trade ministers of the 21 Apec economies endorsed a call for the group to launch a study of the Chinese-led initiative, called the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific, at the weekend.

Apec countries account for 40 per cent of global trade, so any progress in market-opening initiatives could have worldwide implications.