(China Daily)
Updated: 2007-11-21 07:10

The first meeting between Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and his Japanese counterpart Yasuo Fukuda yesterday in Singapore since the latter's election in September is a sign of continuous improvement of relations between the two countries.

Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to China last year and Premier Wen's visit to Japan in April this year have ushered in a new era in the development of relations between the two close neighbors.

The consensus built by the visits to promote strategic relations of mutual benefit has laid a solid foundation for further top-level communications and cooperation in other fields.

This year marks the 35th anniversary of normalization of diplomatic relations between the two and next year the 30th anniversary of the signing of China-Japan Peace and Friendship Treaty.

That explains why Premier Wen said that the Chinese government would like to join efforts with its Japanese counterpart in keeping and furthering the momentum of improving friendly ties between the two countries.

We need frequent exchanges between leaders of both countries for understanding of complicated issues and building of consensus on a variety of issues. So the willingness expressed by both premiers to keep exchanges and mutual visits at the top level will undoubtedly help build a good atmosphere and strengthen mutual trust for further cooperation in a more extensive manner.

In addition, a series of other activities such as the Sino-Japanese high-level economic dialogue that will be held this year and the activities to mark the anniversary of the signing of the peace and friendship treaty, will open up more fields of economic cooperation and build mutual trust between the two peoples.

It is quite natural for both countries to have differences on some issues. But such differences should never become stumbling blocks in the way of furthering friendly relations, and neither should they shake the trust between both governments and peoples.

Setbacks in Sino-Japanese relations are the last thing the leaders of both countries with vision want to see. To avoid such setbacks, we need more talks between leaders of both countries and more exchanges between the two peoples.

(China Daily 11/21/2007 page10)