ST PETERSBURG - The Eighth G20 Leaders' Summit was held in St. Petersburg of Russia on Thursday. Prior to the summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping encountered Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the VIP room for participating leaders. The two sides had a brief talk.

Xi expounded China's principled stance and pointed out that China-Japan ties are facing grave difficulties, which "we are unwilling to see."

The Chinese side is willing to further advance the China-Japan strategic ties of mutual benefit on the basis of the four Chinese-Japanese political documents, Xi said.

Xi stressed that Japan should correctly deal with such sensitive issues as the Diaoyu Islands and history in line with the spirit of facing history squarely and looking forward to the future so as to seek a way to properly manage differences and address the problems.

Abe said he had been looking forward to seeing President Xi Jinping here, adding that "I am eager to improve Japanese-Chinese relations."