ISTANBUL

Foreign ministers of China and Japan met in Laos on Friday, in an effort to stabilize bilateral ties.

Wang Yi and Yoko Kamikawa confirmed the two sides will continue communicating with each other. It is their first such meeting since last November when they met in South Korea.

Relations between Beijing and Tokyo are challenged by the US role in the region while China has also flagged concern over discharge of treated radioactive water from Japan’s crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

The US and its allies including Japan have raised concerns on China’s expanding economic and military influence in the wider Asia-Pacific region.

“China-Japan relations are currently at a critical stage where they will either advance or retreat,” Wang told Kamikawa.

He urged Tokyo to establish an “objective and correct understanding of China and pursue a positive and rational policy toward China.”

"The two sides should maintain political foundation of bilateral relations, strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation, properly manage differences, and truly implement the strategic reciprocal relationship," said the Chinese foreign minister, according to a statement released from Beijing.

Tokyo will advance dialogue with Beijing “in a multi-layered and persistent manner,” Kamikawa told Wang.

China wants to move relations forward so as to “overcome difficulties together,” Wang responded, according to Tokyo-based Kyodo News.

Beijing’s ban on seafood imports from Japan as well as detention of a Japanese citizen were expected to be discussed during the meeting.

Laos is hosting summit of foreign ministers of bloc of Southeast Asian Nations, the ASEAN.

Wang and Kamikawa are attending the summit for separate, bloc-level meetings.