Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo
Abe held their first talks in Beijing Sunday afternoon, following a
welcoming ceremony in Abe's honor.
Wen told Abe that it is in the fundamental interests of the two
peoples to develop a friendly cooperative relationship between
China and Japan.
This is an irresistible general trend and common aspiration of
the two peoples, Wen said.
Wen said the two sides should set store by the overall interests
of the Sino-Japanese relations, conform to the world trend and the
need of the peoples and to further develop bilateral friendly
relations of cooperation.
Expressing appreciation for Abe's positive attitude towards
China-Japan relations, Wen said, recently, China and Japan have
reached a consensus on overcoming political obstacles which
hindered bilateral ties and on promoting the sound and healthy
development of Sino-Japanese relations, and all these helped
realize the visit, providing an opportunity to improve bilateral
relations.
Wen said at the present sticking point, China-Japan relationship
faced both new opportunities of development and lots of
challenges.
China-Japan relations soured over former Japanese Prime Minister
Junichiro Koizumi's repeated visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, where
14 Japanese class-A war criminals in World War II are honored among
the country's war dead.
Wen stressed that to achieve the long-term stable and healthy
development of China-Japan relations, the issue of visiting the
Yasukuni Shrine must be properly solved and the political obstacles
affecting bilateral ties must be removed in line with the consensus
reached between the two nations.
"Promises must be kept and action must be resolute," Wen said,
noting that this is an important guarantee for pushing forward
China-Japan relations.
Abe said he believes the future of Japanese-Chinese relations
will have "no cloud", and he is ready to further the dialogue
between the leaders of the two countries.
The talks will be followed by Abe's meetings with President Hu Jintao and top legislator Wu Bangguo later Sunday.
Abe, who took office on September 26 and arrived at Sunday noon,
is the first Japanese postwar prime minister who chose China as the
destination of his first official overseas trip.
(Xinhua News Agency October 8, 2006)
