Premier Wen Jiabao and his visiting Japanese counterpart Taro Aso yesterday pledged to join hands to deal with the global financial crisis.

China and Japan, whose economies rely heavily on exports to Western markets, have been hit hard by the global financial crisis.

Bilateral trade also slid 24 percent year on year in the first quarter, figures from the Ministry of Commerce show.

To cope with the crisis, Wen proposed that the two nations expand cooperation with members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and push forward coordination among China, Japan and South Korea.

Turning to political issues, Aso said Japan wants to work closely with China for the resumption of Six-Party Talks aimed at making the Korean Peninsula nuclear-free.

Pyongyang said yesterday it would conduct nuclear and missile tests unless the United Nations apologizes for criticizing its April 5 rocket launch.

Wen told Aso the situation on the peninsula is "very complicated", Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kazuo Kodama said. "All concerned parties should deal with the issue calmly to overcome difficulties with patience and confidence," Kodama quoted the Chinese premier as saying.

The two leaders also agreed that:

A Japan-China Plan for Comprehensive Cooperation in Environment and Energy Conservation will be launched.

The China-Japan High-Level Economic Dialogue will be held on June 7 in Tokyo.

Japan will open to individual Chinese tourists in July, while regular charter flights between Tokyo and Beijing will start in October.

A Chinese consulate will be opened in Niigata.

A telecom deal next month will largely help Japan's 3G mobile phones enter the Chinese market.

Liu Jiangyong, an expert on Japan studies at Tsinghua University, said though Wen was not direct, his call for Japan to "properly handle historic issues" referred to Aso sending a potted tree as a ritual offering to the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Japan's war dead including 14 top World War II criminals.

Liu said the financial crisis is a turning point for both nations. "The era of Japan relying on European and US markets has ended, while China has surpassed Germany to become the world's third-largest economy and is likely to replace Japan to be the second largest next year.

"With huge potential for cooperation, Japan should not let historic issues derail relations," he said.

(China Daily April 30, 2009)