SHANGHAI – Chinese President Xi Jinping told Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in his first meeting that China hoped Japan would “properly handle” major issues such as history and Taiwan, Chinese state media reported on Saturday.

Xi called on the two Asian neighbors to protect the global free trade system, as well as stable and unhindered production and supply chains, when they met on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Lima, Peru.

Ishiba told Xi he wanted to build a “constructive and stable” relationship but asked him to lift an import ban on Japanese seafood and strengthen security measures for Japanese citizens in China after recent fatal stabbings, and expressed concern over Chinese shipping activities.

According to a Japanese reading of the meeting, Ishiba asked Xi to release Japanese citizens detained in China.

It was the first meeting between Ishiba, who took office in October, and the long-ruling Chinese leader.

The leaders of Japan, South Korea and the United States met on Friday to cement diplomatic progress before Donald Trump takes office in an administration that many fear could upset alliances around the world.

In recent months, Chinese and Japanese officials have moved to resume several consultative talks for the first time in years, signaling a possible stabilization of testy relations.

China and Japan have been at odds in recent years over issues such as territorial claims, trade tensions and Beijing’s anger over Tokyo’s decision to release treated water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea, triggering the seafood ban.

Also worrying about anti-Japan sentiment in China have been two recent attacks in China – a stabbing that killed a 10-year-old Japanese schoolboy in Shenzhen in September, and a stabbing in June that killed a Chinese woman who tried to protect a Japanese mother and her child from an attacker. Reuters