Deng Xiaoping, the initiator of China's reform and opening up policy, is seen at the Great Hall of the People during a meeting in Beijing in this 1985 file photo.

Xi Jinping's awkward relationship with Deng Xiaoping

Two tricky 40th anniversaries test China's leader

KATSUJI NAKAZAWA, Nikkei senior staff writer

November 1, 2018 15:24 JST

TOKYO -- For the first time in many years, Beijing's Tiananmen Square was covered with red and white Japanese flags. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had descended on China's capital accompanied by several hundred Japanese businesspeople, eager to sign deals after years of hesitation.

A highlight of Abe's trip, which began on Oct. 25, was a ceremony at Beijing's Great Hall of the People celebrating the 40th anniversary of the 1978 Sino-Japanese peace and friendship treaty.