China eyes ties improvement after Japan's Abe re-elected as party head

China on Thursday voiced the expectation for improvement of the bilateral ties after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was re-elected as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

Japan's Prime Minister and President of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Shinzo Abe speaks at his news conference at the LDP headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, 20 September 2018 after being re-elected as President of the LDP. [Photo: IC]

"We expect that Prime Minister Abe will continue attaching importance to the China-Japan relationship and work to improve bilateral ties in a sustained way," Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Geng Shuang said at a regular news briefing.

On Abe's plan to revise Japan's pacifist Constitution, Geng said the international community is always concerned about Japan's move on the issue for historical reasons.

"We hope the Japanese side will profoundly learn lessons from history, honor its promise of sticking to the path of peaceful development and win the trust of its Asian neighbors and the international community with concrete moves," Geng said.