By IRNA-Kyoda
Beijing : Chinese President Hu Jintao and the leader of Japan’s main opposition Democratic Party of Japan agreed Friday to bolster dialogue and exchanges between the ruling Chinese Communist Party and the DPJ, a DPJ official said.
Hu and DPJ head Ichiro Ozawa, who is leading a visit to China by a delegation of about 450 Japanese legislators and party supporters, confirmed the importance of maintaining good ties between the two parties and the two countries, the official told reporters.
”We hope to innovate on our dialogue framework and to make our exchanges even more fulfilling,” the official quoted Hu as saying in the meeting at the Great Hall of the People.
Hu was referring to the framework established between the Chinese Communist Party and the DPJ under an agreement reached last year which is holding its second meeting in Beijing following talks in Tokyo in January. Ozawa said he agreed with Hu that the two parties, as well as the two countries, should try to develop ties regardless of outside factors.
”The president said that we must maintain and develop relations under any kind of circumstance, and I agreed,” he said at a press conference ”Japan-China ties are key to Asia maintaining peace and stability,”Ozawa added.
The DPJ official quoted Hu as saying in the meeting that high-level exchanges between the two countries’ governments, parties and politicians have made progress The two countries are also working in ”strong coordination” over the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, Hu was quoted as saying.
Hu did not elaborate further, the official said China is the chair of the six-party talks on North Korea’s .denuclearization which include Japan The multilateral process has made progress this year, with North Korea shutting down its key nuclear facilities in July and currently facing the task of disabling them and submitting a list of all of its nuclear programs by the end of the year in exchange for energy aid.
The Ozawa-led delegation of 45 lawmakers and about 400 party supporters is making the trip to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the resumption of diplomatic relations between Japan and China.
Among the legislators participating in the visit are DPJ senior adviser and former Japanese Prime Minister Tsutomu Hata, and the party’s Acting President Naoto Kan.
The DPJ topped the Liberal Democratic Party to become the biggest group in the House of Councillors in July’ s upper house election and helped the opposition camp to gain a majority in the upper chamber, creating a divided parliament in which the ruling coalition of the LDP and the New Komeito party now controls only the House of
Representatives.