Visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing and his Japanese counterpart, Nobutaka Machimura, met in Santiago Thursday to discuss bilateral relations.

The meeting was held on the sidelines of a two-day ministerial meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, when foreign ministers from the APEC members are preparing for the12th informal summit of the bloc's leaders, which is set to be held here on Saturday and Sunday.

Li told Machimura the Chinese government attaches great importance to the Sino-Japanese relations and hopes that both sides make efforts to foster their friendly cooperative relations with long-term stability and sound development.

It is of great significance to advancing bilateral ties for the leaders of China and Japan to maintain close exchanges and contacts, Li said, stressing the importance of frequent contacts and contacts between the leaders, governments and various sectors of both countries.

Li also reiterated China's principled stance on history and Taiwan.He said the Chinese government hopes that the Japanese side keep all its commitments and take concrete steps to remove obstacles that affect bilateral ties.

Machimura agrees that it is very important for Japan and China to maintain contacts and dialogues at various levels and to seek broader common interest and cooperation.

He said the Japanese government attaches importance to the Chinese stand on history and Taiwan and that the Japanese side adheres to the one-China policy and does not support "Taiwan independence."

"Such a stance will not change," Machimura said.

Source: Xinhua