China's President Xi Jinping expressed his condolences on Saturday over the death of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, whom Xi said had worked hard to improve relations between the neighbors, Chinese state media reported.
Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe makes a speech before he was shot from behind by a man in Nara, western Japan July 8, 2022 in this photo taken by The Asahi Shimbun. The Asahi Shimbun/via REUTERS
Japan's longest serving modern leader was gunned down on Friday in the Japanese city of Nara while making a campaign speech for a parliamentary election. A 41-year-old Japanese male suspect has been arrested. Ties between Japan and China have been plagued for years by a territorial dispute over a group of tiny East China Sea islets as well as the legacy of Japan's past military aggression.
Abe made a rare state visit to China in 2018 and, in return, Xi was expected to visit Japan in 2020, which would have marked the first trip by a Chinese president to Japan since 2008.Bilateral ties have become more complex in recent months, with Kishida's government calling for increased defense spending and expressing concern over threats faced by self-ruled Taiwan, which China claims as its own.