Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping held their first face-to-face talks for the first time since each of the leaders took office.  It’s a diplomatic breakthrough for two countries that are sharply divided by China’s territorial ambitions and Japan’s distancing itself from responsibility for its World War II past.

The two didn’t look particularly thrilled to see each other when they shook hands in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People on the sidelines of the APEC Summit, but they were cordial and professional.  No threats of shirt-fronting.  Nah, I’m not going to let that go.

It comes just days after the two countries agreed to work on improving ties and signaled willingness to put their rival claims over the Senkaku Islands on the back burner.  As recently as a week ago, this meeting didn’t look like it was going to happen, but Japan kept pushing.

Rebuilding any form of trust isn’t going to be easy.  Even without the territorial disputes and China’s unease with Japanese officials’ visiting a military memorial shrine that honors war criminals;  the two are rivals, economically – the world’s second and third largest economies.