Chinese PM appeals to Japan businesses to improve two-way ties

Tokyo

CHINESE Prime Minister Li Keqiang has called on Japanese businessmen to strengthen ties with China and has pledged to broaden access to Chinese markets as well as to offer a more level playing field to foreign companies in China, according to reports on Thursday.

His remarks were made to a delegation of 200 Japanese business people at the State Council, over which he presides and came a few days after Mr Li held a summit meeting in Seoul with Japan's Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe.

The move could signal the beginning of a thaw in relations between the two major powers and comes at a time when both are facing economic difficulties that call for economic cooperation rather than confrontation, analy…