Singapore Reporter

A group of senior Japanese lawmakers on Monday told Zhang Dejiang, ranked third in the Communist Party of China, about Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s readiness to hold a formal meeting for the first time with Chinese President Xi Jinping later this year.

Zhang promised to relay the message to Xi that Abe is willing to meet with the president on the sidelines of this year’s summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in November in Beijing, Masahiko Komura, vice president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party who is heading the delegation, said at a press conference.

But Zhang blamed Japan for the deterioration in bilateral relations, while agreeing on the need to improve public sentiment in the two countries toward each other by facilitating exchanges between lawmakers and people in various fields, Komura said after holding talks for about an hour with him at the Great Hall of the People.