Japan has been given the green light from China to purchase 10.3 billion U.S. dollars in Chinese government bonds - that's about 65 billion yuan. Japanese Finance Minister Jun Azumi made the announcement earlier Tuesday.

The move is part of a broad package of bilateral financial deals, finalised last December during Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's visit to Beijing. It's all aimed at consolidating ties between the world's second and third-largest economies.

Azumi says the amount is appropriate, given the goal is to strengthen economic cooperation. He also says it could be several months before the Japanese government actually begins investing in Chinese debt and that it will decide when to cash in based on market movements.

China does not currently allow investors to freely buy its sovereign debt, permission is needed from the central bank.

Meanwhile, China has also been investing in Japanese government debt, shifting some of its forex reserves - the biggest in the world - away from the dollar in order to hedge risks amid the European crisis.

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