Japanese delegation of Great Wall Program visits NW China’s Xi’an

XI’AN—The 15th Japanese “Great Wall” Program delegation visited Xi’an, capital of northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, on Sunday.
“The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) has enjoyed good relations with the Communist Party of China,” said Japanese Senator Takeshi Maeda, “I think the cooperation and exchanges between the two parties and the peoples of Japan and China are conducive to maintaining the world peace, especially Asia.” The acting leader of DPJ Nanto Kan found the tree that he planted near the city wall in 1999 when he visited Xi’an.
The delegation visited the famous Museum of Terracotta Warriors and Horses of Qinshihuang, the city wall of Xi’an built in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), and the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. Xi’an is the second lag of the delegation’s China trip after Beijing, where Chinese President Hu Jintao met with them. 170 members of the delegation, including more than 10 Japanese Dietmen visited Xi’an.
Headed by Japan’s largest opposition party leader Ozawa Ichiro, the 450-strong delegation comprises 47 Japanese Dietmen of the DPJ,and representatives from various social circles of Japanese society.
Initiated in 1989, the “Great Wall” Program, a people-to-people exchange scheme, has been participated by more than 200 Japanese Dietmen and 1,500 Japanese people through visits to China. Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan held a meeting with Nikai Toshihiro, chairman of the General Council of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), and Land and Transport Minister Fuyushiba Tetsuzo here Sunday.
Tang said the Sino-Japanese relations are facing a good opportunity for fresh development. China will continue to pursue a friendly and cooperative policy toward Japan, and hopes the two sides can grasp the opportunity and put the bilateral strategic and reciprocal relations into concrete actions, so as to promote along-term, sound and stable development of bilateral relations.
Nikai Toshihiro and Fuyushiba Tetsuzo said the Japanese side is willing to work with China, and take the development of Sino-Japanese relations and upcoming Olympic Games as opportunities to contribute to the friendship between the two peoples. This year marks the 35th anniversary of the normalization of China-Japan diplomatic relations. The two Japanese officials are in China for the closing ceremony of a tourism exchange activity commemorating the anniversary, which involves about over 30,000 people.—Xinhua