Hu’s Japan trip to have profound impact on China, Japan ties

BEIJING—Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping said here Wednesday that President Hu Jintao’s upcoming visit to Japan would have a profound impact on bilateral strategic and reciprocal relations.
“President Hu’s trip is a great event in Sino-Japanese relations in the new period,” Xi told visiting Yoshinobu Ishikawa, governor of Shizuoka Prefecture in Japan. Xi said this trip would promote mutual understanding and friendship as well as substantial cooperation between the two countries.
He expected the two countries to seize the chance to become good neighbors and partners featuring peaceful existence, long-term friendship, reciprocal cooperation and common prosperity. Xi also hoped the two sides could strengthen the exchanges between their peoples and cities to enrich Sino-Japanese friendship and cement bilateral ties.
Yoshinobu Ishikawa said the development of friendly relations with China conformed to the fundamental interests of the two peoples, adding that Shizuoka Prefecture would step up exchanges with China in different levels and areas.
Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi agreed on Friday to ensure the success of Chinese President Hu Jintao’s upcoming state visit to Japan. At the beginning of their meeting in Tokyo, Yang delivered personally-written letter to Fukuda. In the letter, Hu expressed his willingness to deepen and boost the Sino-Japan mutually beneficial relations based on common strategic interests and push forward the bilateral ties into the track of long-term healthy and stable development through the visit.
Describing Hu’s upcoming tour as of significant importance, Fukuda said the Japanese government and he himself are earnestly expecting the visit. He believed that the visit would improve bilateral ties and cooperation and called on both sides to make the biggest effort to ensure the success of it. Yang said Fukuda’s visit to China last year vigorously promoted the improvement and development of the China-Japan relationship, which has now entered an important period and presented favorable developing momentum.
The Chinese side attaches great importance to President Hu’s visit to Japan and hopes the visit would reach achievement in promoting strategic trust, expanding mutually-beneficial cooperation, improving civil sentiment and strengthening international and regional cooperation, Yang said. Fukuda extended his good wishes to the Beijing Olympics and pledged Japan’s support for and assistance to the games.

—Xinhua