Conflicting reports on possible Abe visit

The plan to visit China was unveiled by media to impress people that "he is capable of surviving the existing political difficulty", but Abe may have miscalculated because "he has not brought substantial changes to his incorrect historical outlook", Gao said.

In Washington, Michael Green, senior vice-president for Asia and Japan chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said on Tuesday that the Chinese official response to Abe's Aug 14 statement is fairly moderate.

"Since November last year when Xi Jinping and Abe met for the summit, although there is continuing geostrategic rivalry between China and Japan, both leaders try to stabilize the situation for their domestic political and economic reasons," he told a seminar on Japan-South Korea relations after Abe's statement, held at the Heritage Foundation.

Green cautioned that people should not have had any expectation that one statement will resolve the history issue between Japan and Korea, and between Japan and China.

Sheila Smith, a senior fellow for Japan studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, also raised the possibility of a trilateral meeting in Beijing between Xi, Abe and South Korea President Park Geun-hye.

While Xi and Abe had met for a bilateral, Park and Abe have not met for a bilateral yet due to controversy over history issues, such as regarding the "comfort women" of the World War II era.

Chinese, Japan and Korean foreign ministers met this spring, a sign that was interpreted by many as setting the stage for a possible summit between leaders of the three East Asia nations.

While a trilateral meeting in Beijing on Sept 3 has a low probability, Green believes there is a good chance for a trilateral at APEC in November.