Banri Kaieda, the DPJ president and head of Japan's main opposition party, arrived in China on July 15, 2014, but was received the following day only by Liu Yunshan, the fifth-ranking Politburo Standing Committee member. Kaieda's wanted to discuss ways to improve bilateral ties that are severely strained because of the dispute over the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, but reports suggest that Liu Yunshan said little in the way of constructive comment and instead criticized Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s recognition of shared history and complained about Japan's decision when the DPJ was in power to make the uninhabited Senkakus state property.