Abe's visit to China expected to bring new cooperation

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China and Japan expect to strengthen their economic ties with the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to China on Thursday, which comes at a time when the world economy is going through a mix of recovery and trade tension.

The world's second and third largest economies have been major trade partners for many years.

Japan was China's fourth largest trade partner in 2017, ranking after the US, the EU and ASEAN and second largest trade partner country next to the US, according to China's official data.

Meanwhile, China has been Japan's largest trade partner since 2007.

Japan has been enthusiastic to invest in its fast-growing neighbor. As China's third largest foreign investor, Japan has invested 108.18 billion US dollars in China by the end of 2017, according to a report from China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

As the data showed, the investment was chilled by the territorial dispute reignited in 2012 and 2013, but the upcoming meeting is expected to further advance those economic cooperative plans laid down during Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's visit to Japan in May.

During Li's visit, China agreed to grant Japan a 200 billion yuan (28.8 billion US dollars) investment quota under the Renminbi Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (RQFII) program for the first time to buy China's securities. The two countries also considered renewing a bilateral currency swap agreement, which has expired in September 2013.

China and Japan also agreed to work on fostering joint infrastructure projects in third countries, and among the projects floated by the two sides is the development of expressway systems in Thailand that would involve a joint investment by Japan and China, the Japan Times reported on Sunday.

(Infographic by Li Xiaojie)