Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said Tuesday before his upcoming visit to China that he hopes to further promote relations with China to a new stage.
During an interview with Xinhua and other Chinese media at the prime minister's office in Tokyo, Fukuda said he is "glad" to visit China in this memorable year marking the 35th anniversary of the normalization of Japan-China diplomatic ties.
"I expect to further promote the development trend of Japan-China ties so that next year the bilateral ties can develop even faster and be moved into a new stage," he said.
Fukuda added that he will discuss with Chinese leaders the building of strategic and mutually beneficial relations and carry out consultations on how to make contributions to the two countries and the region through Japan-China cooperation.
The number of annual visitors between Japan and China has reached 5 million, the prime minister said, adding that enhancing exchanges and mutual understanding will be conducive to consolidating the bilateral friendship.
He said that the sound Japan-China ties not only benefit the two countries but also play an important role in maintaining peace and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region, and that "the two peoples also take great responsibility for the region and should make joint efforts" in that respect.
Japan-China relations have been developing smoothly after the visit by former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to China in October 2006 and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's visit to Japan in April 2007, Fukuda said, calling for the maintaining of top-level exchange visits and establishing relations based on mutual trust.
Fukuda, who took office in September, is scheduled to begin a four-day official visit to China. He will hold talks with his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao, and meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao and top legislator Wu Bangguo, respectively.
Fukuda will also give a speech at the prestigious Peking University, visit a primary school in Beijing, and visit Tianjin, a city neighboring Beijing, and Qufu of Shandong Province, the hometown of Confucius.
Source: Xinhua
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