Shinzo Abe, leader of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), said in the western Japanese prefecture of Yamaguchi on Saturday that he would make efforts to improve Japan-China ties that have been under severe strain, local press reported.

"Japan-China relations are one of the most important bilateral ties," Abe told Japanese reporters. Abe was in Yamaguchi to visit the cemetery of his father--late Japanese foreign minister Shintaro Abe.

"We want to make efforts to return to the starting point of developing a mutually reciprocal relationship" with China, he added.

Abe is considering sending LDP Vice President Masahiko Komura, head of the Japanese association of lawmakers for friendship with China, to China as a special envoy, the report said, quoting people familiar with the matter.

LDP won a landslide victory in Japan's lower house election last week, enabling Abe to become Japan's next prime minister. Abe is expected to take post of prime minister on Dec. 26.

Sino-Japanese ties have soured after the Japanese government " purchased" some of the Diaoyu islands in the east China Sea in September.