China says summit with Japan, S. Korea to focus on cooperation, not N. Korea

No areas will be off limits in talks next week when Chinese Premier Li Keqiang visits Japan, but North Korea is not going to be a focus, a senior Chinese diplomat said on Friday.

China and Japan, Asia's two largest economies, have been trying to reset ties after years of increasingly bitter dispute over a group of uninhabited islets in the East China Sea and the legacy of Japan's invasion of China before and during World War Two.

Japan will host a summit with Li and South Korea's President Moon Jae-in in Tokyo on May 9 to discuss regional issues, where North Korea had been expected to be high on the agenda.