Trade decline also a matter of emotion

The current decline of Japanese imports to China because of the Diaoyu Islands disputes is partially a result of emotional hurt to the Chinese people, and the Japanese should take the emotional issue into consideration in tackling the difficulty in bilateral ties, experts said.

"The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) initiative is to contain China's peaceful rise and Japan's participation in this partnership will hurt the feelings of Chinese consumers," said Li Daokui, a former policy adviser to the central bank and a prominent economist at Tsinghua University.

Initiated by Singapore in 2005, the TPP requires member countries to eliminate all tariffs and open up their agricultural and financial services as part of the pact's bid to build a unified market in the Pacific Rim by 2020. Membership in the trade pact grew significantly after the United States signed up in 2008.

Hirohide Yamaguchi, deputy governor of Bank of Japan

Bank of Japan Deputy Governor Hirohide Yamaguchi pledged a better environment for Chinese investment in the future. "Japan has very little foreign investment but the investment from China is a very important part," he said.