On Sep. 5, 2013, the Eighth G20 Leaders' Summit was held in St. Petersburg, Russia. Prior to the summit, President Xi Jinping encountered Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan in the VIP room for participating leaders. The two sides had a brief talk.

Xi Jinping expounded China's principles and position, pointing out that China-Japan relations have recently been facing grave difficulties, which we are unwilling to see. The Chinese side is willing to continue to advance the China-Japan strategic reciprocal relationship on the basis of the four political documents between China and Japan.

Xi Jinping stressed that Japan should correctly deal with such sensitive issues as the Diaoyu Islands and history by the spirit of facing history squarely and looking forward to the future so as to seek a way to well manage differences and address the problems.

Abe said he had been looking forward to seeing President Xi Jinping, adding: "I am eager to improve Japan-China relations."