BEIJING (Reuters) -Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang and his&nbsp;Japanese counterpart Yoshimasa Hayashi&nbsp;discussed&nbsp;disputed&nbsp;islands&nbsp;in the&nbsp;East&nbsp;China&nbsp;Sea&nbsp;on Thursday, with both expressing&nbsp;concerns&nbsp;and Qin hoping&nbsp;Japan&nbsp;could stop "right-wing" provocations.
The&nbsp;disputed&nbsp;East&nbsp;China&nbsp;Sea&nbsp;islets claimed by both&nbsp;China&nbsp;and&nbsp;Japan&nbsp;have long been a sticking point in bilateral relations.&nbsp;China&nbsp;calls the&nbsp;islands&nbsp;Diaoyu, while&nbsp;Japan&nbsp;calls them Senkaku.
In their first conversation since Qin took office, he told Hayashi that Beijing hopes&nbsp;Japan&nbsp;can stop "right-wing forces" from provoking disputes&nbsp;over&nbsp;the contested&nbsp;islands, according to a statement from the foreign ministry.
Hayashi said bilateral relations face "many challenges and&nbsp;concerns," adding that&nbsp;Japanese public opinion toward&nbsp;China&nbsp;is "extremely severe,"&nbsp;Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
Hayashi also expressed "serious&nbsp;concerns" about the&nbsp;East&nbsp;China&nbsp;Sea, including&nbsp;China's activities around the&nbsp;islands, as well as its "increasingly active military activities near&nbsp;Japan".
But both agreed on cooperating to build a constructive and stable relationship, and said they would continue close communication at all levels, including at the summit level, the&nbsp;Japanese statement said.
Hayashi told a news conference on Friday that Qin had invited him to visit&nbsp;China, adding that the timing of such a visit needed to be arranged, Kyodo news agency said.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno confirmed on Friday that the two ministers had talked and agreed to work toward cooperative, positive ties.
"I think their conversation was a good start," he told a news conference.
(Reporting by Hong Kong newsroom and Elaine Lies in TOKYO; Editing by Alex Richardson and Gerry Doyle)

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China, Japan discuss concerns over disputed East China Sea islands