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INTRO
A senior Japanese leader visited Beijing on Tuesday, in a bid to mend the country's recently tense ties with China...
As the territorial dispute between the two over a string of islands in the East China Sea, continues.
But Beijing says the latest meeting, was helpful.
As leader of Japan's ruling New Komeito party, Natsuo Yamaguchi's visit to Beijing was a landmark trip, in the two countries' increasingly tense relationship...
Yamaguchi's meeting with Chinese leaders marks the first senior member of the Japanese ruling bloc to attend talks in Beijing, after China-Japan relations fell to a new low, following their ongoing sovereignty standoff.
In September, the Japanese government announced plans to "buy" part of the Diaoyu islands in the East China Sea, which China sees as its inherent territory since ancient times.
The move ignited widespread anti-Japan protests across China... And dragged bilateral trade down for the first time, in three years.
Yamaguchi said the aim of his trip was to "open the door to normalizing relations and pave the way for dialogue."
A move welcomed by Beijing... Which has been calling for negotiation for months.
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said talks between the two countries have helped further a diplomatic solution and heal ties.
It's not the first time Yamaguchi's made a mediating journey to China...
He visited Beijing in 2010, when China-Japan relations soured after two Chinese fishing boats collided with Japanese patrol boats, in waters around the Diaoyu Islands.
And some Japanese experts say Yamaguchi, could act as a bridge between the two...
But uncertainties remain about how effective this visit can be - given his disagreement on foreign policy with Japan's new Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe.
