Chinese President Hu Jintao met with Japanese Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Sunday
afternoon, soon after Abe's talks with Premier Wen Jiabao.
"Your ongoing visit is serving as a turning point in the
China-Japan relations and I hope it would also serve as a new
starting point for the improvement and development of bilateral
ties," Hu told Abe, congratulating upon Abe's taking office as
prime minister.
Hu spoke highly of Abe's choosing China as the destination of
his first official overseas trip, saying it indicated that Abe has
attached great importance to the improvement and development of the
relations between the two neighbors.
Shortly afterwards, top legislator Wu Bangguo met with Abe, who arrived in
Beijing earlier Sunday and will fly to Seoul early
Monday.
Wu, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, said Abe's ongoing
visit attracted world attention, especially from the Japanese and
Chinese people.
"I hope the stalemate in China-Japan relations come to an end
and I believe this visit would help open up a new page for
bilateral ties," Wu said.
Abe told Wu that his visit indicated both Japan and China are
attaching "extreme importance" to bilateral relationship.
Abe, who took office Sept. 26, is the first Japanese postwar
prime minister who chose China as the destination of his first
official overseas trip. It's also the first visit to China by a
Japanese prime minister in five years.
Wen, Abe Hold Talks in Beijing
(Xinhua News Agency October 8, 2006)
