President Hu meets Japan's Aso, calling for cherishing achievements in bilateral

BEIJING, April 30 -- Chinese President Hu

Jintao met Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso here on Thursday, calling on the two

sides to cherish achievements made in bilateral ties.

"Since my visit to Japan in May last year, related

parties on the two sides have made every effort to implement the consensus and

decisions agreed upon during the visit, and had attained important progress in

promoting the strategic and mutually-beneficial relations between China and

Japan," Hu told Aso at the Great Hall of the People.

"These achievements have not come easy and should be

cherished by us," said Hu.

Hu noted that as the global financial crisis spreads,

trade between China and Japan had declined obviously. He urged the two sides to

take effective measures to put bilateral trade and investment back on the track

of stable growth as soon as possible.

China and Japan must step up information exchange and

policy coordination, explore new areas of cooperation and exploit the full

potential of their cooperation. They must particularly ensure successes in

cooperation in energy-saving and environmental protection, information and

telecommunications and high-tech industries, said Hu.

Sino-Japanese trade slid by 7.4 percent year on year

in December and plumped by 24 percent in the first quarter of this year, figures

from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce show.

Hu noted personnel and culture exchanges have an

important and far-reaching impact on the development of Sino-Japan relations.

He urged the two countries to make full use of the

existing channels and mobile every resources available to raise bilateral

personnel and cultural exchanges, especially the exchanges between youths in

general and young officials in particular, to a new height.

In multilateral areas, China and Japan should focus

on advancing cooperation in East Asia so that the sub-region will collectively

respond to global challenges such as the current financial crisis, he said.

The two countries must further enhance their

coordination and cooperation in such regional mechanisms as the Association of

Southeast Asian Nations plus China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK), the

East Asia summit and the China, Japan plus ROK format, so that together they can

promote peace, stability and development in Asia and the world at large, Hu

said.

Aso said since Hu's successful visit to Japan in May

last year, the two sides have made important progresses in implementing the

projects agreed upon during the visits.

He expressed Japan's appreciation of the fact that

the two countries have maintained frequent exchanges of visits by and good

communications between state leaders.

Japanese and Chinese leaders have also met for many

times in bilateral and multilateral occasions to exchange opinions on bilateral

relations and issues of common concern, said Aso.

Japan and China are neighbors. Sound cooperation in

political and economic fields and the continuous advancement of the strategic

and mutually-beneficial relationship between them have laid a solid foundation

for the future of this relationship, said the Japanese prime minister.

Aso said it is Japan's wish that the two countries

will continue with the close communications at high level, strengthen

cooperation in various fields, step up coordination in coping with the

international financial and economic crisis, and promote youth exchanges.

Aso arrived in Beijing on Wednesday for a two-day

China tour, his first official visit to China since he took office in

September.