Premier Wen Jiabao said on Friday that his scheduled visit
to Japan in April will be an "ice-melting journey" for the
relations between China and Japan, after Japanese Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe's "ice-breaking journey" to China last October.
Abe's visit was the first by a Japanese prime minister in five
years. High-level visits between the two countries stopped because
of former Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi's continued
visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, where 14 Japanese class-A war
criminals in the second World War were enshrined.
Wen told a press conference after the closing of the annual
session of the National People's Congress (NPC), or parliament,
that he is expected to reach consensus with Prime Minister Abe on
the contents of strategic China-Japanese relations of mutual
benefits and set up a mechanism to boost bilateral economic
cooperation.
"Both sides will also strive to promote scientific and
educational exchanges and exchanges between the two peoples,
especially between the youth and children," said Wen.
The premier said he hopes the two countries can build a friendly
relationship of stable and healthy cooperation.
The two countries need to abide by the three important political
documents and face history squarely and look forward to the
future.
The three political documents, namely the Sino-Japanese Joint
Statement, the Peace and Friendship Treaty and the Sino-Japanese
Joint Declaration, have stated the perspective for the future
development of bilateral relations in the long run and in terms of
a strategic sense, Wen said.
Wen also said China expresses sympathy to the alleged abductions
of Japanese citizens, and added it is a matter between Japan and
the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
"I hope the two countries will resolve the problem smoothly
through negotiations," Wen said.
(Xinhua News Agency March 16, 2007)