China says it and Japan agree to resume dialogue, following 2-year freeze over island dispute
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China says it and Japan have agreed to ramp up high-level contacts following a virtual freeze of more than two years due to tensions over a territorial dispute.
The announcement Friday is the strongest indication yet of a possible meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at next week's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
China's Foreign Ministry says the two sides agreed to "gradually resume political, diplomatic and security dialogues."
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No meeting has been announced, though Xi and Abe are widely expected to at least hold some kind of tete-a-tete during the summit next Monday and Tuesday. However, it is unclear whether anything substantial would be discussed.
High-level ties have been frozen since September 2012 amid tensions over East China Sea islands claimed by both sides.