By Xinhua
Beijing : Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao held talks with his visiting Japanese counterpart Yasuo Fukuda Friday morning with both emphasizing that the two countries have entered into a phase of substantive bilateral relations.
During their talks, Wen and Fukuda touched upon the assassination of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto Thursday and expressed their strong opposition to terrorism.
Wen said China-Japan relations have entered “an important period of improvement and development”, and that he would like to work with Fukuda to jointly seize opportunities so as to “promote a new and greater development of the strategic and mutually beneficial China-Japan relations”.
Wen said he and Fukuda had a “friendly telephone call” only four days after the Japanese premier assumed office. They also met and had luncheon together during an Asian summit in Singapore last month.
“It can be said that we have established a sound work relationship,” Wen said.
The talks took place in the Great Hall of the People after a red-carpet welcome ceremony.
Fukuda said the China-Japan relations have “huge opportunities and responsibilities” and expressed his hope that the two countries could cooperate for the future peace and stability of Asia and the world.
After the talks, the two witnessed the signing of three cooperation documents in fields of youth exchanges, technical cooperation on climate change, and a new joint research on magnetic fusion energy.
Fukuda will also visit an economic development zone in Tianjin on Saturday and the hometown of Confucius in Qufu, Shandong Province, on Sunday before flying back to Japan.