Visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao on Wednesday put forward a four-point proposal for further development of China-Japan economic and trade cooperation.

In a speech at the welcome luncheon hosted by key Japanese business groups, Hu made the following proposal to push bilateral economic ties to a higher level.

-- To give priority to cooperation in energy-saving and environmental protection. China is committed to building a resource-conserving and environment-friendly society while Japan boasts the sophisticated technology in these fields. The two countries have promising prospect for cooperation in these areas.

-- To actively participate in China's regional development. China will continue to implement its overall strategy for regional development. The Japanese business community is encouraged to use their cutting edge and give priority to their personnel and technological cooperation and exchange with China.

-- To vigorously promote cooperation between enterprises of the two countries. Large enterprises should seize the critical opportunities to expand high-tech exchanges and cooperation and continuously raise their cooperation to new heights. Small and medium-sized enterprises of the two countries should enhance communication and contacts and carry out mutually beneficial cooperation in a flexible and diverse manner.

-- To advance cooperation in regional and global economic affairs. To meet the demands of in-depth development of economic globalization, China's enterprises are implementing the "go global" strategy to meet the challenge of deep-going development of globalization. Many Japanese enterprises are playing an active role throughout the world. The two sides could proceed from developing international market and seek mutually beneficial cooperation in international and regional economic affairs.

Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived here Tuesday for a state visit to Japan, the first by a Chinese president to Japan in a decade.

The visit is seen as a step to further improve the once-chilly Sino-Japanese relationship, which started to thaw with the "ice-breaking" visit by former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to China in October 2006.

That event was followed by the "ice-thawing" Japan trip by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in April last year and Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's "spring-herald" visit to China last December.

(Xinhua News Agency May 8, 2008)