Strained ties between Japan and China are likely to improve at a fence-mending meeting between the premiers on Friday in Hanoi, on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit, Japanese media reported.

China has yet to officially confirm that the meeting will take place.

Premier Wen Jiabao arrives at Noi Bai airport in Hanoi on Thursday to meet regional leaders and attend the East Asia Summit. [Kham/Reuters]

Japan's Kyodo News Agency on Thursday quoted diplomatic sources from both sides as saying that Premier Wen Jiabao is to meet Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan and issue a joint news communique.

The "rare" move by the two leaders in issuing an official document at a site that is not part of a formal visit will "show improvement of bilateral relations", the Kyodo report said. 

Relations have been strained since collisions between two Japan Coast Guard patrol boats and a Chinese trawler on Sept 7 in waters off the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea.

Beijing suspended all high-level contacts with Tokyo after Japan illegally detained the Chinese trawler captain.

The two leaders met in Brussels in a passageway on the sidelines of a summit for Asian and European leaders earlier this month. But Kyodo noted that Beijing only called it a "discussion", not a "meeting".