President Jiang Zemin said Wednesday that rejuvenating Asia in the 21st century may not be realized without friendship and cooperation between China and Japan.

Jiang made the remark during his meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori. The two leaders, who are in New York attending the three-day Millennium Summit of the United Nations, which opened Wednesday, exchanged views on further promoting Sino-Japanese relations.

Yoshiro Mori, in his first meeting with Jiang as a Japanese prime minister, said that Japanese-Sino relations have improved greatly since the normalization of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Jiang said that leaders of both countries should view Sino-Japanese relations from strategic heights and take the interests of the whole into account.

"When running into specific problems, we should engage in frank talks for an appropriate settlement."

Jiang said that Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji will make an official visit to Japan soon and hoped that Zhu's visit will push forward the development of Sino-Japanese relations in all fields.

During the talks, Jiang recalled attending a friendship gathering in Beijing last May attended by some 5,000 Japanese.

"The gathering left me with a very nice impression," Jiang said.

(People’s Daily 09/07/2000)