According to the Kyodo news agency, Japan's incoming prime minister, Shinzo Abe, has decided to postpone stationing government officials on the Diaoyu Islands.

Speaking in the western Japanese prefecture of Yamaguchi on Saturday, Abe said Japan-China ties are one of his country's most important relationships. Japan wants to work toward developing a reciprocal relationship with China.

The news report also said Abe was considering sending Liberal Democratic Party Vice President Masahiko Komura, head of the Japanese association of lawmakers for friendship with China, as a special envoy to China.

Abe is the head of the LDP party, which won a landslide victory in Japan's lower house elections last week. During campaigning, the party had said it would consider posting officials to the Diaoyu islands to strengthen its control.