The 7th meeting of the new 21st Century Committee for China-Japan Friendship opened in Beijing Sunday, with policy consultants from both sides trying to seek concrete proposals for further improving bilateral ties.

Zheng Bijian, chief Chinese member of the 21st Century Committee for China-Japan Friendship, and his Japanese counterpart Yotaro Kobayashi lead members of the two sides to attend the meeting.

"The China-Japan relations are now stepping on a new horizon and face historical opportunities of development," Zheng said, adding that to seize the opportunity and create a better future were the common wish of Chinese and Japanese people and the subject of this meeting.

Kobayashi said the current improvement of bilateral relations had made people feel the warmth of spring and he believed the Japan-China relations will head further.

The two-day meeting will also focus on how to implement the consensus reached during Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's China visit last month and on the Chinese President Hu Jintao's upcoming trip to Japan, Chinese secretary of the Committee Jiang Xiaosong said.

The new 21st Century Committee for China-Japan Friendship is a policy consultation organization for the two governments. Its goal is to bring together intellectuals from both sides to study relations from a broad political, economic, cultural, scientific and technological perspective, and make proposals to both governments.

The committee has held six meetings since its inception in July 2003, based on the consensus of the leaders of the two countries.

(Xinhua News Agency January 27, 2008)