A senior Party official Wednesday said the successful exchange of visits between leaders of China and Japan would definitely promote bilateral friendship in a stable way.

Wang Jiarui, head of the International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), said this when meeting with a delegation from Japan's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), headed by chairman of the LDP General Council Niwa Yuya.

Reviewing contributions that leaders of the two countries' elder generations had made for bilateral relations, Wang said he appreciated efforts Niwa Yuya had made to cement China-Japan friendship.

Niwa Yuya said Japan is ready to enhance mutually beneficial cooperation with China in areas of environmental protection and public health, in a bid to benefit the two peoples and the region.

The two sides also discussed the regional situation and the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made an ice-breaking visit to China in October last year, making deadlocked political ties begin to warm.

Premier Wen Jiabao is scheduled to visit Japan this April.

(Xinhua News Agency March 1, 2007)