Visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao (L) and Nara Prefecture Governor Shogo Arai (2nd R) unveil the statue of Great Master Jianzhen (Ganjin Wajyo) (688-763), a prominent Buddhist monk of the Tang Dynasty of China (618-907), in Nara, Japan, May 10, 2008.

Chinese President Hu Jintao's just-concluded "warm spring" visit to Japan has opened up new prospects for the development of strategic and mutually beneficial relations between the two countries, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said on Saturday.

During his state visit, the first by a Chinese president to Japan in a decade, President Hu held fruitful talks with Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, Yang told Chinese journalists accompanying Hu on the tour.

During his stay in Japan from May 6-10, Hu met with Japan's Emperor Akihito, leaders of both houses of parliament and political parties of Japan, as well as old Japanese friends of China, and had extensive contacts with leaders of economic circles, representatives of friendly organizations, young people and people from other walks of life.

The five-day visit, made with a pragmatic approach, has achieved great successes and produced the desired results.

The Japanese government attached great importance to President Hu's visit, Yang said. Emperor Akihito, Prime Minister Fukuda and House of Representatives Speaker Yohei Kono attended many events of Hu's itinerary, and the Chinese president's visit was greeted with great enthusiasm by the Japanese public, he said.

Blueprint for Sino-Japanese relations

During the visit, President Hu and Prime Minister Fukuda issued a six-point joint statement on all-round promotion of strategic and mutually beneficial relations between the two countries. The statement has become the fourth important document between the two countries, with the other three being the China-Japan Joint Statement issued on Sept. 29, 1972, the China-Japan Treaty of Peace and Friendship signed on Aug. 12, 1978, and the China-Japan Joint Declaration released on Nov. 26, 1998.

The statement confirms the guiding principles for long-term development of Sino-Japanese relations, and is of great significance to consolidating the political foundation of bilateral ties, promoting strategic mutual trust, building an overall framework for a long-term, healthy and stable development of China-Japan ties, and deepening bilateral strategic and mutually beneficial relations, he said.

The two sides also issued a joint press communique on boosting bilateral exchanges and cooperation, covering 70 cooperation projects between the two countries.

Both sides confirmed that China and Japan are cooperation partners, with neither side posing any threat to the other, and that they will support each other's peaceful development, handle issues existing between the two countries through dialogue and negotiations, increase high-level and political exchanges, build a mechanism for high-level regular visits between leaders of the two nations, strengthen communication and dialogue between the governments, parliaments and political parties of the two countries.