In advance of Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to Japan, the financial ministers from China and Japan participated in the Second Finance Dialogue yesterday in Tokyo. The ministerial talks show that Chinese and Japanese governments are expected to work together to cope with the sub-prime lending crisis in the United States, ensuring Asia's financial and economic stability.

Chinese Finance Minister Xie Xuren and his Japanese counterpart Fukushiro Nukaga have participated in plenary talks, small-scale dialogue and integrated financial dialogue.

The US loan crisis has become the major discussion topic of the second Sino-Japanese Finance Dialogue.

Japan Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga admitted that the US crisis has severely affected Japan's economy, resulting in the sharp appreciation of the Japanese yen and the plummeting of the Tokyo stock market. In the long run, Japan's economy will face difficulties.

He called on an immediate information exchange mechanism to be established between Japan and China, in order to take coordinated steps to jointly deal with the mortgage crisis in the United States and secure Asia's financial security.

For more details, please read the full story in Chinese (http://www.china-cbn.com/s/n/000002/20080324/020000074528.shtml).

(China.org.cn March 24, 2008)