Premier Wen Jiabao yesterday met several Japanese party leaders separately, with the two sides expressing willingness to cooperate further to promote long-term and healthy development of bilateral relations.

Among those who Wen met were Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Hidenao Nakagawa, New Komeito Party chief Akihiro Ota, Democratic Party of Japan leader Ichiro Ozawa, Social Democratic Party leader Mizuho Fukushima and Japanese Communist Party leader Kazuo Shii.

Wen met with Daisaku Ikeda, honorary president of Soka Gakkai, well-known non-governmental academic organization, too.

China and Japan are neighbors, and their common mission is to develop Sino-Japanese ties, and increase mutually beneficial cooperation, Wen said.

The Chinese government has been paying a lot of attention to the development of bilateral ties, and pursuing a friendly Sino-Japanese policy, the premier said. The goal of his visit to Japan is to boost the ties and consolidate their political, economic and social foundations.

This year marks the 35th anniversary of the normalization of bilateral ties and offers the two countries great opportunities for development, Wen said. Sino-Japanese relations will move forward smoothly as long as the two sides abide by the three political documents and handle the sensitive issues properly.

The CPC would like to cooperate further with the Japanese parties and take bilateral ties forward in a healthy and steady way, Wen said.

The Japanese side said that Premier Wen Jiabao's visit has boosted the Japanese people's confidence in the future development of Sino-Japanese ties.

Source: China Daily