welcome to nhk world "newsline" i'm gene otani in tokyo. here's a look at some of the stories we're following this hour. the leaders of japan and china have held talks for the first time in more than two years. they have agreed to work towards better relations. and a meeting of apec leaders has gotten under way in beijing. china is moving to take steps to create a new economic order. the leaders of japan and china have agreed to improve

ties in the spirit of a mutually beneficial strategic relationship. prime minister shinzo abe and chinese president xi jinping held talks in beijing on the sidelines of the asia pacific economic cooperation forum. it is the first time they've met one-on-one since they took office. the meeting lasted for about 30 minutes. the onset of the talks was open to the media. it was the first summit between the two countries in 2 1/2 years. bilateral relations have been tense over a group of islands in the east china sea and perceptions of history. abe said china's peaceful development is an aid opportunity for japan and the international community. he said he wants to work with china to make use of the opportunity as the world's second and third largest economies. >> translator: the talks became the first step for japan and china to improve ties in the spirit of a strategic relationship that is beneficial to both sides.

many countries, not only in asia, were expecting the japan/china summit talks. i was able to respond to such expectations. abe said specific matters between japan and china's neighbors should not harm their overall relationship. he called on xi to work together for better mutual understanding among people, stronger economic ties, closer cooperation, and the east china sea, and a more stable security environment in east asia. president xi replies that he will work to improve bilateral ties. he said he hopes that japan will maintain its stance as a peace loving nation. xi referred to a 1995 japanese government statement that expressed deep remorse and a heartfelt apology for japan's colonial rule, and aggression in asia. he said it is important to face

history squarely and advance toward the future. abe said his cabinet upholds the stance of past governments, and the perception of history. the two leaders agreed to prepare to launch a communications mechanism to avoid unexpected incidents at sea, and in the air. leaders from around the asia pacific region have begun their summit meeting at the asia pacific economic cooperation forum in beijing. as the regional powerhouse china is asserting itself both diplomatically and economically. it also appears as the host country yet chinese leaders are planning to use the apec summit to work toward creating a new framework center on china. china recognizes that the existing economic framework is led by the united states and europe. over the next two days, "newsline" will be providing special coverage of events at the apec summit as they happen. chinese president xi jinping has

welcomed the leaders of the 21 asia pacific countries and regions. on the agenda at the meeting is the promotion of regional economic integration. this includes establishing a framework for liberalizing trade and investment in the region, or the so-called free trade area of the asia pacific. our reporter is in beijing. what is the mood like? >> i am now at the apec press center set up by the chinese government. people using the internet in mainland china are limited to what sites they can access. >> yes? how has china been positioning -- >> for instance. -- >> okay, go ahead. >> let me keep going. for instance, users are barred from entering specific sites, including twitter and youtube.

but during the period of the summit, the government has lifted these restrictions in the press center. the chinese government appears to be aiming to reduce any possible criticism from the foreign media. >> eiji, how has china been positioning itself in the days leading up to the summit? >> the chinese government is going all-out to promote apec as the world's second largest economy. chinese president xi jinping spoke about the strength of his country's economy at the gathering of business leaders at the apec summit on sunday. xi also -- >> translator: the chinese economy is developing steadily. there are risks, but we need not be afraid. we have the confidence and ability to deal with those risks. we have the responsibility to create and fulfill the dreams of the people at the asia pacific region.

>> reporter: xi also expressed his nation's determination to take a leading role in developing the economies of the asia pacific region. one example is establishment of the asian infrastructure investment bank. its aim is to provide financial support for infrastructure expansion in developing countries in the region. chinese government officials are hoping to further advance economic cooperation with the region, and obtain approval of the initiative so individual meetings with various world leaders. those are taking place on the sidelines of the apec summit. meanwhile, negotiations are progressing on the creation of the u.s.-led trans-pacific partnership free trade deal. china is not participating in the talks. on monday leaders met to discuss the tpp on the sidelines of the

apec summit. china is trying to use its position as the chair of the apec conference to take a lead in the creation of the global economic framework. >> thanks. that was nhk world's eiji hamanishi in beijing. discussions are heating up on how economies in the asia pacific region should cooperate. we take a close look at the new economic order that china is trying to create. >> reporter: ahead of the apec summit, china let it be known that it was eager to play a leading role in setting up a trade cooperation framework. >> translator: china hopes apec will facilitate discussions to establish a free trade platform. >> reporter: china proposes a deal called free trade area of the asia pacific, or ftaap. under its provisions apec countries and regions would liberalize trade and investment. so far china and the u.s. have

been competing to establish their own version. the u.s. is leading negotiations for the trans-pacific partnership, or tpp. the scheme sets ambitious free trade goals. the high hurdles deter china from joining negotiations. as an alternative to the u.s. undertaking, china is promoting the formation of the regional comprehensive economic partnership, or rcep. now, china is proposing the formation of ftaap, an organization that has many countries and regions. in doing this, china aims to take leadership in creating new economic order. but u.s. experts fear the chinese move may curb the momentum of the u.s.-led tpp talks. china is also trying to set up an international financial institution. in october, 21 countries exchanged memorandums on the proposed asian infrastructure

investment bank, or aiib. china says the bank would aim to serve asia growing demand for infrastructure. the bank would be headquartered in beijing. china is expected to provide about half of the bank's $100 billion capital. >> translator: we would like to make the asian infrastructure investment bank an inclusive, highly effective, and well connected financial institution to boost economic cooperation in asia. >> reporter: the asian development bank has been the leader in helping to develop regional infrastructure. the u.s. and japan play a central role, and a japanese serves as its president. through the aiib, china appears to be trying to exert greater influence in asia. >> translator: china is trying

hard to propose and realize beijing-led frameworks for the international economy and finance. i believe that aiib is one of the elements in the bigger picture. >> leaders of asia's developing nations are hoping to see rapid changes in infrastructure, and many are pinning their hopes on the beijing-led investment bank. the leaders of some countries remain wary of china's strong influence in the region. nhk world reports. >> reporter: this bridge was completed this month in phnom penh, the capital of cambodia. it's called the china bridge. it was built with assistance from the chinese government. four years ago, china overtook japan as cambodia's biggest source of aid. >> translator: i like to thank the chinese and cambodian

governments for building this bridge. >> reporter: many asian countries have high hopes for the aiib because china approaches infrastructure support differently from japan and the u.s.-led adb. this project was started eight years ago, using loans. it was scheduled to be completed last year, but it remains unfinished. the cambodian government said people living along the route, some toilets have been built, but no housing facilities, so most residents refuse to move. to get the project moving again, the nab asks the cambodian government to consider animal and human rights issues, they suspended its loans.

meanwhile, china is capitalized by speed. this road is being built using loans from china. china prioritizes the completion of its projects and doesn't place as much importance on environmental and safety issues as the adb. >> translator: i get a lot of dust in my eyes in the evenings. there's nothing i can do but put up with it. >> reporter: it's not unusual for projects financed by china to be completed in about half the time it would take if it was by the adb. some officials of the cambodian government work on the energy china displays in backing these projects. >> translator: speed is the key. if loans are delayed by a year or two, the development of the country is delayed by a year or two. >> reporter: but the united

states and japan have expressed concern about the lack of transparency in the aiib's managerial framework. >> as it relates to the asia infrastructure bank as we've said in here before, our view is that it would need to be done in a transparent manner with high level of -- high standards. >> reporter: in this climate, australia is in a difficult position regarding the aiib. the australian government has been strengthening its economic ties with china, its largest trading partner. it intended to join the aiib to tap in to the business of building in asia. but its ally, the united states, has tried to put a stop to this. according to an australian newspaper, secretary of state john kerry has asked the prime minister tony abbott not to work with the aiib.

but abbott has yet to signal what he will do. >> we would like to join, but it's got to be a multilateral institution, with the kind of transparency, and the kind of arrangements that the world bank has. >> reporter: the u.s. and japan are warning about china using its bountiful financial resources in asia. the tug-of-war with the region's development looks set to continue. nhk world. economists of the fujitsu research institute explains why china is trying to expand its influence in asia and how the country plans to do it. >> translator: china originally tried to become part of the world order, making contributions to internationals

ors set up after world war ii. the international monetary fund, the world trade organization, and the world bank. but, joining such organizations requires the consent of countries that dominate the established order, including west japan, and european countries. china made several attempts to join these bodies, but to no avail. after seeing its efforts falter the country decided to propose a framework of its own. chinese president xi jinping proposed the creation of an asia pacific regional trade zone and a meeting of ceos at the apec forum. in such a framework china is to make contributions it can afford in areas like providing funds, technology, or activity, as well as tourism and exporting services. this would enable both china and its partners to grow together. china faces the problem domestically of not being able to absorb all the goods it produces or spend its capital.

that's why it's looking overseas. at the same time, domestically, china is moving toward a high value added economy, or an economy led by consumption in services. china is to share with other countries mass production know-how, nurtured during the period when the country's economic growth was higher. >> china appears determined to emerge as leading power in asia, in dealing with the rest of the world. judging from its focus on establishing a new economic order. on tuesday, we'll look at china's diplomatic maneuvering at the summit. people in the spanish region of -- before we go to that we've got the latest in business news with ron madison. sorry about that, ron. >> that's okay, gene. actually we're going to talk a little bit more about what's going on on the sidelines of the apec summit. leaders of countries negotiating a free trade pact have issued a

statement but they have not set a date for reaching a final agreement. the 12 leaders met at the u.s. embassy in beijing on the sidelines of apec meeting. japanese prime minister shinzo abe and u.s. president barack obama were among them. now the leaders talked for about an hour. they agreed on a statement welcoming what they called the final stage of negotiations. they say they have made significant progress in the last several months. they say they have instructed negotiators that concluding the talks is a top priority. but the leaders did not set a target date themselves. so a deal by the end of this year does seem unlikely. minister for the tpp talks akira amari said they are nearing the end of negotiations but some difficult hurdles remain. he said these are in areas where each country wants to tread carefully. he said that's why they can't set a deadline for reaching an accord. leaders of china and south korea have agreed on a trade pact that's been in the works for two years. this deal will eventually eliminate import tariffs on most

products. chinese president xi jinping and south korean president park geun-hye met on the sidelines of the apec summit. south korean officials say the accord will abolish tariffs on 91% of chinese imports to their country within 20 years. they say china will eliminate tariffs on 85% of imports from south korea during the same time frame. they say the final deal will be signed early next year. china's state news agency xinhua called the pact a high level agreement that will profit both countries. on the to the markets now. weak chinese inflation data today suggests the economy there is starting to cool off. but analysts say this raises hopes for more stimulus measures from policymakers in beijing. and that's been giving a boost to london shares. we're seeing the ftse up by 0.4%. it's got trading now at about a five-week high. frankfurt's dax is also seeing gains of just over a quarter percent. paris' cac 40 is up by 0.4%. investors really cheered the announcement that trading on the hong kong and shanghai exchanges would be linked starting on

monday. chinese markets did outperform others in the region. the shanghai composite, in fact, jumped more than 2%. it hit a three-year high. the exchange tie-up will give global investors greater access to shanghai stocks. here in tokyo, though, the nikkei shed nearly 0.6%, as the yen rebounded against the dollar. well, in currencies the dollar is slipping against other majors on weaker than expected u.s. jobs numbers on friday. euro dollar right now is at roughly 1.2497. the dollar also pulled back from a seven-year high against the yen. it's now trading at right around 114.06. well japan's minister of economy trade and industry has proposed cutting the corporate tax rate by more than 2.5% in the next fiscal year. miyazawa says he will ask the government to discuss the target. miyazawa made his proposal on monday to the chairman of keidanren, the japan business federation. he welcomed the news saying he

expects the minister to seek consensus for the tax cut. the government has already announced plans to cut japan's effective corporate tax rate in installments. it will drop from 35% to below 30% starting in fiscal 2015. miyazawa said he asked keidanren to cooperate with a government plan to secure alternative revenues. one proposal is to expand the coverage of a tax levied according to business size. even companies in the red would be taxed under this method. more tourists are coming to japan to shop. the weaker yen is a pretty big attraction. and department stores are also offering something special for the new year's holidays. so-called lucky bags, filled with items at bargain prices are popular new year's purchases. the seibu department store is putting to the its first ones targeted at foreign shoppers, if

themes including mount fuji and hello kitty. prices range from $17 up to $440. >> translator: we hope foreign investors enjoy this popular new year event at our store. >> mitsukoshi and matsui yeah stores will also be selling their lucky bags for tourists. that is going to do it for biz tonight. i'll leave you with the markets.

people in the spanish region of catalonia have cast their ballots in a symbolic referendum on independence. officials say more than 80% voted in favor of splitting from spain. catalonian regional government officials announced the provisional results from sunday's vote. they said of the 6 million eligible voters, more than 2 million took part with nearly 90% of ballots counted, more than three quarters of people backed independence. >> despite this very difficult conditions, the harsh conditions under which we have organized this day in catalonia, we have voted. >> people in catalonia have been planning to hold an official referendum but central government officials stepped in to stop them, and spain's constitutional court ordered that the referendum be suspended

until it reached a decision. so catalan leaders went ahead with the unofficial vote. mas says he'll demand a legally binding referendum. spain's prime minister has been opposed to the move. some of the coldest weather will blast through north america during the next few days. our meteorologist jonathan oh is here to tell us about their frigid fall weather. jonathan? >> hello, gene, yes. we are talking about temperatures that are going to drop significantly as we go through the rest of this week. you see here right now, just cloud cover for the northern portion of the united states in to canada, and clearer skies down toward the south. we have to actually go further up north to the northern pacific to talk about a system that's going to really change out the weather pattern. you can see the big spin of this low pressure system. this is actually the remnants of nuri, which was a typhoon, moving south of japan, but has not made it all the way to the northern pacific, and now is extra tropical. this system is going to really change up the weather pattern.

now let me explain the reason why. there's that low, west of alaska. now, typically around this time of year, we usually have the jet stream, which is a whole fast tracking move there -- area of air toward the higher parts of the atmosphere. that is the dividing line between the cold air up north and the warmer down south. the low pressure system at the top of the world on the northern hemisphere is called the polar vortex. now what is going to happen is this system, what was nuri, is going to really change things up. it's like if you took a rope and polite it and push it down you know the waves come along with that and it travels with the energy. that's what's going to happen with the jet stream. it's going to push up the jet stream on the car western side, and then because of the reaction to that we're going to see a huge dip of this jet stream which means all the cold air is going to spill in from the north and move down toward the central portions of the united states. this is how significant it's going to be. it's going to be cold enough to where we're going to have winter

storm concerns for the northern portions of the united states, in to the dakotas. so we're talking about winter storm warnings in effect for areas into the montana, expecting lots of snow, possibly for there. all the way in to parts of the great lakes. now, let me point out the highs for you coming up on monday. negative 6 in winnipeg. 13 in denver. 12 in chicago. 9 in vancouver, and 12 in seattle. we're going to fast forward into tuesday's highs. notice we're going to now drop into negative 7 degrees in denver. that's almost a 20 degree drop with snow showers expected there. snow expected in winnipeg. also 9 degrees in chicago, into the single digits for seattle. and even further down into the single digits for vancouver. so this is just the beginning, as we go through the week the cold air will continue to march further down to the south. we're talking about temperatures down into the single digits once again as far south as the carolinas. as we go throughout the rest of this week. now, we're talking about some pleasant weather conditions over in east asia. high pressure controlling the

weather for korean peninsula and also into eastern china. the high pressure systems will continue to push toward the east. we do have a disturbance toward northern china that's going to bring moisture and cloud cover as we go throughout tuesday. ulan bator you're going to see a chance of snow with a high of negative 4. 13 in beijing with cloud cover. 15 seoul. and 16 in tokyo. so we're going to see a mix of sun and clouds. but eventually we'll see some rain going into wednesday. wrapping things up with a look at europe. central europe you can see a whole area of cloud cover with a couple of low pressure systems. one responsible for producing very strong wind gusts, causing some problems in italy. another low located in the scandinavian peninsula and back off toward the northern atlantic we have a very strong system that's going to bring a lot of rainfall down toward 13 in madrid, 15 in lisbon, while we're going to see drier conditions further toward the east, as high pressure continues to control the weather over warsaw, kiev and vienna. hope you have a good day wherever you are. here's your extended outlook.

that's "newsline" for this hour. i'm gene otani in tokyo. from all of us here at nhk world, thanks for joining us. ñó

>> hello and welcome. it is 1:00 p.m. in the french capital. let's take a look at what is making headlines this hour. a historic meeting between the leaders of china and japan, the first time after more than two amid with high tensions territorial disputes. voters in catalonia have backed independence from the bad news -- from the spanish region. the u.s. and eu worried over reports of a buildup in sector three