President Hu Jintao will visit Japan in the near future, and diplomats of the two countries are discussing details of the itinerary, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said here on Wednesday.

"There is no such an issue as postponement of President Hu's visit," said Yang at a press conference on the sidelines of the annual parliamentary session.

He made the remarks when answering questions from a Japanese journalist on whether President Hu's state visit to Japan, scheduled for this spring when "cherries are in full bloom," would be postponed to some time after May.

"Spring is a beautiful season in Japan. Both Chinese and Japanese peoples expect President Hu's visit in spring," Yang said, adding that the two sides are engaged in active discussion about the specific date.

"This visit will be a historic one, which will boost relations between the two countries." said the foreign minister.

Speculations arise over President Hu's visit to Japan lately due to dispute on contaminated dumplings.

In January, Japanese media reported 10 people fell ill in the country after consuming frozen meat dumplings produced by a food plant based in north China's Hebei Province. Japanese police found methamidophos in the vomit of those poisoned and in food packages at their houses. But sample tests show the rest of dumplings in the same batch and other batches made at about the same time by the Chinese company were safe. So were the raw materials used in production.

(Xinhua News Agency March 12, 2008)