China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Wednesday said he had "not heard" that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would visit China in September, state television reported, dismissing speculation of a summit meeting of the two leaders that month.
Last month, China's top diplomat told the head of Japan's National Security Council that China was preparing for "high-level political dialogue" with Japan, stoking hopes of a leaders' meeting.
Sino-Japanese ties, long bedevilled by a dispute over islands in the East China Sea and China's memories of Japan's wartime aggression, have improved since Abe met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing in November.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.