"Friendly" has become Abe's byword recently when touching on the China-Japan relations. He talked about the need to build "stable, friendly" relations with China when addressing the extraordinary Diet on Sept 29 - the first time he has referred to Japan-China friendship in his parliamentary remarks.

Describing the bilateral relationship "inseparable", Abe said outright his intention to meet with Xi at an early date.

A meeting with Xi may be Abe's diplomatic breakthrough. Since taking office in December 2012, he has not talked face-to-face with Xi because Japan "nationalized" the main isles of China's Diaoyu Islands and he visited the Yasukuni Shrine that enshrines Japan's Class-A war criminals.

Now Abe is acting out of character. For a long time, he has been dissatisfied with the Japanese Foreign Ministry's China policy and unhappy with doves in his Liberal Democratic Party who seek friendship with China.

"Friendship" is not Abe's initiative, it was square one the two countries agreed to build their relations on when they normalized relations.

It is the keyword in the political bedrocks of their relations - namely, the China-Japan Joint Statement issued in 1972, the China-Japan Treaty of Peace and Friendship signed in 1978 and the China-Japan Joint Declaration released in 1998.

In an interview with the Japanese newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun in 2011, Abe said that Japan sacrificed its interest for friendship with China and is setting the cart before the horse. He believes that Japan should not dance to China's baton.

It is no secret that what is driving him to do an about-face now is a chance to have a talk with Xi.

Talking about a "friendly" relationship, Abe makes it clear that Japan will not yield in terms of the two sensitive issues - historical controversies and the territorial dispute between the two countries.

A group of the families of Japan's war dead is asking the Yasukuni Shrine to remove the convicted war criminals so that all Japanese people including Japanese Emperor, Empress and prime minister can visit there "without discomfort".

Abe should know better the gravity of the issue. His visit to the shrine in December 2013 put severe strain on the already tense relations.

As people in Japan saw a positive signal from Chinese foreign minister's remark, it is necessary to remind them of the rest of it. Wang called on Japan to face up to the thorny issues in relations squarely and offer solutions in good faith.

To build friendship, which the China-Japan relationship is short of, the two countries need to be on the same page and look at the bigger picture.

Does Abe have a clear, long-term vision of how to build a stable, friendly relationship with China? I hope that "friendship" is not his makeshift for his immediate goal - meeting with Xi in Beijing.

The author is China Daily's Tokyo bureau chief. caihong@chinadaily.com.cn