China and Japan will renew their security talks and consultations on their ties and regional affairs this month. The talks have been stalled since the Japanese government illegally "nationalized" part of the Diaoyu Islands in 2012.

Toshihiro Nikai, chairman of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party's General Council, is due to visit China in May, as head of a 3,000-strong Japanese delegation that will include tourism and local government officials. He said the trip was an attempt to improve the frozen bilateral relations at a news conference in Tokyo on Feb 25.

Back in 2007, when the two countries observed the 35th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic ties, Nikai, as chairman of the Diet Affairs Committee of the LDP, signed an agreement with China's National Tourism Administration Director Shao Qiwei on exchange visits by more than 20,000 people from both countries.