The US has welcomed a four-point agreement reached by China and Japan for improving bilateral relations.
"We would welcome the statement between China and Japan that outlines agreed steps to improve relations," Xinhua quoted the State Department spokeswoman, Jennifer Psaki, as saying at a daily news briefing, calling it a "positive step".
"As two of the three largest economies in the world, relations between the two countries affect the peace and prosperity of not only the region but the world," she said.
In the agreement inked Friday in Beijing, China and Japan agreed to resume political, diplomatic and security dialogue while acknowledging different positions on the Diaoyu Islands.
Japan's attempt to whitewash its war-time history and a territorial row over the Diaoyu Islands in East China Sea have chilled political relations between Tokyo and Beijing, a development that has in turn taken a toll on bilateral trade between the world's second and third largest economies.
