China may have ended discriminatory media coverage of Abe

November 13, 2017

Beijing- The Chinese Communist Party may have ended its discriminatory treatment of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in terms of coverage by its flagship People's Daily newspaper.

The daily posted in its Sunday edition a photo of Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping shaking hands while standing in front of the two countries' national flags, taken at their meeting on Saturday in Da Nang, central Vietnam.

Previously, the paper had carried photos of summit meetings without national flags or taken in a modest room only for Abe-Xi talks.

The change came after Xi solidified his grip on power at a Communist Party Congress last month.

Xi apparently aimed to display a change in his approach to Abe, aware of the need to do well with the Japanese prime minister, who led his ruling coalition to a landslide victory in the Oct. 22 general election, sources familiar with the situation said.

On the second page, the paper reported Xi's summits with leaders of five countries. All photos of the meetings featured Xi and the leaders shaking hands in front of national flags, except one with Chile that captures a signing ceremony.

The Abe-Xi meeting was featured in the most low-key manner of all the meetings on the page, perhaps because Abe is not a head of state.

Though the meeting was held in a friendly atmosphere, Xi told Abe that the key to improve bilateral relations is in mutual trust. Jiji Press