Japan's main opposition leader vowed on Wednesday to carry out a candid conversation with Beijing to improve ties, which were further strained recently over Japan's new military policy.

Liu Yunshan, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, told Banri Kaieda, president of the Democratic Party of Japan, that China expects Japan to "learn from history" and focus on the path of peaceful development.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said earlier this month that Japan's military has the right to deploy troops overseas under its new "collective self-defense" policy, marking a radical shift in the country's post-war pacifist stance.