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Shinzo Abe, Japan's assassinated former prime minister, left, and Chinese President leader Xi Jinping entered office a month apart in 2012. (Nikkei montage/Reuters/Getty Images/Ken Kobayashi)
China up close

Analysis: Dramatic final curtain on special Abe-Xi relationship

Chinese leader pays unusual respect to his arch rival of 10 years

KATSUJI NAKAZAWA, Nikkei senior staff writer | China

Katsuji Nakazawa is a Tokyo-based senior staff and editorial writer at Nikkei. He spent seven years in China as a correspondent and later as China bureau chief. He was the 2014 recipient of the Vaughn-Ueda International Journalist prize.

Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping had been linked by fate for a decade.

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