NHK英字ニュース（Democratic Party official meets China's Xi Jinping）

Democratic Party official meets China's Xi Jinping

A senior governing Democratic Party official has asked China's Vice President Xi Jinping to resume negotiations on gas field development in the East China Sea at an early date.

A group of Democratic Party lawmakers led by Secretary General Azuma Koshiishi held talks on Friday with Xi in Beijing. Xi is widely expected to be China's next leader.

At the outset of the talks, Xi said mutual trust is needed to strengthen relations between the 2 countries and that politicians should assume responsibility for history.

Xi was cautious about an early resumption of the gas treaty negotiations with Japan, saying conditions should be right for the negotiations to restart.

Talks aimed at concluding a treaty on the gas field development have been stalled since the 2010 collision between a Chinese fishing boat and Japanese coast guard ships near the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. The islands are known as the Diaoyu Islands in China.

Koshiishi also asked China to relax restrictions it imposed on Japanese food imports after the Fukushima nuclear accident.

Xi said China will discuss the matter after it establishes the safety of Japanese food.

outset ；初め
assume ；（責任を）引き受ける
stall；止まる
collision ；衝突

restriction ；規制
impose ；押しつける


次期国家主席と言われている习近平さん（繁体字；習 近平）は、
ピンイン表記で、Xi Jinping です。
四声を加えると、Xi３ Jin４ping ２です。
無理やりカタカナで表すと、シー　ジンピンです。
今のHuさんに比べると、強面でちょっと怖い感じがするのは私だけでしょうか。