Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao met with his Japanese counterpart
Yasuo Fukuda Tuesday on the sidelines of a series of ASEAN meetings
in Singapore.
Fukuda, a well-known Japanese politician, telephoned the Chinese
government only four days after taking office, which indicates that
he attaches great importance to relations between the two
countries, Wen said.
The Chinese people are familiar with the Japanese prime
minister, whose late father, former Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda,
signed a treaty of friendly cooperation with China 30 years ago, he
added.
Wen said that now, China-Japan relations are at a historical
stage of significant development and an important turning
point.
"I hope we will make concerted efforts and grasp this
opportunity to push forward the continuous development of bilateral
ties," he said.
For his part, Fukuda said he once had a meeting with Wen four
years ago.
He said the Chinese premier's speech at the Japanese parliament
in April has left a deep impression on Japanese lawmakers and
nationals.
It is Wen's first meeting with Fukuda since the Japanese prime
minister took office in September.
In April, Wen paid a three-day official visit to Japan, during
which he reached consensus with Japanese leaders on forging a
strategic, mutually beneficial relationship.
The year 2007 marks the 35th anniversary of the normalization of
diplomatic ties between China and Japan.
Japan is now China's third-largest trading partner, while China
is Japan's second-largest trading partner.
The China-Japan trade volume reached 207.36 billion U.S. dollars
in 2006, a 200-fold increase over the 1.1 billion dollars in
1972.
(Xinhua News Agency November 20, 2007)
