Xi, Abe hold landmark meeting

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held formal talks on Monday for the first time since the two leaders took office, a breakthrough in efforts to improve ties between the Asian rivals.

Television footage showed Abe waiting for Xi to greet him at Beijing's Great Hall of the People, a departure from usual protocol in which the Chinese leader is on hand waiting for a guest. Xi was unsmiling and stiff as the two shook hands and he did not speak to Abe when they first met.

China and Japan, the world's second- and third-largest economies, have rowed bitterly in the past two years over disputed islands, regional rivalry and the legacy of Japan's wartime occupation of China.

The meeting, which capped months of backdoor talks and an agreement last week between diplomats that signaled willingness to put the territorial feud on the back burner, opens the door to lower-level dialogue including stalled high-level economic discussions.