The leaders of Japan and China agreed on Wednesday on measures, including annual summit meetings and stepped-up civil and military exchanges, to cement a recent improvement of relations after talks in Tokyo that Japanese officials described as “extremely productive and meaningful”.

Hu Jintao, China’s president, the first head of state to visit Japan in a decade and only the second ever, said: “Prime Minister (Yasuo) Fukuda and I believe that Sino-Japanese relations are at a new historic starting point.”