By KUNA,
Tokyo : Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived in Tokyo Tuesday for the first visit to Japan by China’s head of state in 10 years, a move that will further advance bilateral ties between Asia’s two largest economies.
“Japan and China are both important countries in Asia and the world,” Hu said in a statement upon arrival. “This will enhance friendship and cooperation in both countries.” Hu is to hold talks with Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda on Wednesday, in which they are expected to agree on a joint statment calling for deeper mutually beneficial ties based on common strategic interests. The joint statement will be the fourth landmark paper between the two countries since the normalization of diplomatic ties in 1972.
The three preceding documents are the Japan-China Joint Communique of 1972, the Japan-China Peace and Friendship Treaty of 1978 and a joint declaration in 1998. They plan to release a joint statement on global warming and North Korean issue.
However, there is also bilateral matters of concern between the neighbours, including the issue of pesticide-tainted frozen meat dumplings from China, and a row over gas exploration rights in the East China Sea.
Fukuda may also ask Hu to resolve the unrest involving Tibet in a peaceful manner during his talks. It is Hu’s first trip abroad since the unrest broke out in March.
During his five-day stay, Hu will have an audience with the Emperor at the Imperial Palace and visit a Chinese school near Tokyo and tour historic sites in Nara, western Japan.
The two countries are likely to focus on improving overall relations, looking beyond thorny bilateral disputes and differences over Tibet.
Chinese leaders suspended bilateral top-level contact with Japan from 2001 to 2006 because of then Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s repeated visits to the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo.
The shrine honors war dead, including Japanese officials found guilty of war crimes at the end of World War II.
But the bilateral ties warmed after Fukuda’s predecessor, Shinzo Abe, took over from Koizumi and visited China in October 2006. Fukuda also paid a visit to China last year.