China and Japan's relationship thawing amid coronavirus outbreak 

Bitter territorial disputes and long-running grievances dating back to World War II have marred the Japan-China relationship for decades.

During WWII, the Japanese Imperial Army was responsible for a 1937 campaign of rape, murder and looting that became known as the Nanjing Massacre, in which an estimated 300,000 people died, CNN report said. 

Japanese air strikes during the war also inflicted severe damage on Chinese civilians in Chongqing, killing an estimated 32,000 people between February 1938 and August 1943, the report added.

China and Japan have often argued over how the past should be remembered.

Successive Japanese governments have apologized, with some prime ministers personally expressing regret for Japan's actions in the war, but many Chinese believe Japan has not adequately acknowledged the extent of its brutal occupation of the country during WWII.

With a looming global economic slump and racist coronavirus-related assaults and slurs spreading faster than the outbreak, for now, China and Japan appear to be focusing on what they share in common and what benefits both parties.