Political commitments of Japan and China and their joint documents are the basis to improve bilateral relations

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe delivered his second policy speech to the 185th session of the Diet on Oct 15 with a sense of what Japanese media called "pride". It is true that over the past 10 months since Abe reassumed the position of prime minister, the Japanese economy has seen a conspicuous economic recovery with the annualized growth rate 4.1 percent in the first quarter of this year and 3.8 percent in the second quarter, the highest among major developed economies.

A sweeping upper house election victory by Abe's ruling coalition in July after its landslide win in the lower house in December gave his coalition a majority in both houses and, the approval rate for the Abe Cabinet has remained at around 60 percent, a scenario seldom seen by his predecessors.