You know the world is in a parlous state when CNN has a regular program called This Week at War. Which makes it all the more gratifying to see some good news about Sino-Japanese relations: Japan's new prime minister Abe has been in Beijing on a mission to mend the troubled relationship between the Asian powers. Many analysts are saying that the threatened nuclear test by North Korea is the real reason behind the urgency of Abe's visit, but whatever the cause, it's good to read stuff like this on Xinhua:

China's top leaders host the first summit talks Sunday with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who is making his first foreign visit since taking office on Sept. 26, and describe it as a "turning point" in declining China-Japan relations.

"Your ongoing visit is serving as a turning point in the China-Japan relations and I hope it would also serve as a new starting point for the improvement and development of bilateral ties," Chinese President Hu Jintao told Abe.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao gave a red-carpet welcome for Abe's visit on Sunday afternoon, which was honored by a 19-gun cannon salute, before holding talks with the 52-year-old new Japanese prime minister.

Xinhua top story on their Chinese website this morning is titled 'China and Japan release joint communiqué'. The document states that China and Japan agree that exchanges and dialogue is of importance to the healthy development of bilateral relations, and includes this line:

"The Japanese side invites Chinese leaders to visit Japan, the Chinese side expresses thanks and agrees in principle"

Media and BBS coverage

There is plenty of coverage of Abe's visit in the Chinese media today, with photographs of Abe and Hu Jintao on the front pages of many daily newspapers.

It's a different story on the BBS websites: Blog portal and search engine Qihoo.com has no mention of the State visit on its home page; the nationalist forum website Tixue.net is silent too. But there are plenty of comments on the People's Daily 'Strong Country' forum, and also on a thread on Sohu's military affair's channel. The comments range from supportive remarks like "This is good: they should talk more" to knee jerk chauvinistic statements like 'Make sure to disinfect the place after he leaves'.