BEIJING -- China on Tuesday downplayed a brief handshake between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.

Abe exchanged a handshake with Xi during the APEC gathering in Indonesia on Monday, according to Japanese media reports, which was looked upon with interest as the two nations are engaged in an acute territorial dispute over a set of islets in the East China Sea.

Asked about the handshake between Xi and Abe, China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying replied, "What I have seen is that some Japanese media reported that President Xi Jinping had a handshake with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of the APEC."

During a regular press briefing, Hua added, "Don't you think that the relevant report is meaningless?"

Hua said China wants to resolve disputes with Japan "through dialogue, but, up to now, we have not seen any positive, any concrete actions taken by the Japanese side to that end."

“We hope that the Japanese side will take concrete actions to remove obstacles for the improvement of bilateral relations," Hua said.

"Without making any concrete efforts, the Japanese side is only playing up these kinds of reports," she said. (Yonhap News)