Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao elaborated on Saturday the "three bases" for healthy China-Japan relations, underscoring the principle that people of the two nations were the real foundation of bilateral ties.

 

One of the bases was that the two sides should abide by the three key political documents on ties, including the Sino-Japanese Joint Statement, the Peace and Friendship Treaty and the Sino-Japanese Joint Declaration, said Wen.

 

As for the second base, "the real foundation lies in people. People of the two nations shall promote mutual respect and understanding and treat each other equally," he said, while hosting a breakfast for visiting Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda.

 

The future of China-Japan relations would rely on young people, which Wen depicted as the third base.

 

"If the economic and trading cooperation stands for today's friendship with immediate profits, exchanges of the young and the two peoples will generate long-term benefits by influencing the future," he said.

 

About 4,000 youths will be invited to take part in bilateral exchanges in 2008, which has been designated as a year of friendship between the young people of the two neighboring countries.

 

Wen's words were in keeping with the friendly atmosphere at the Diaoyutai State Guest House, the venue of the breakfast, against the backdrop of a large welcome banner and two potted moth orchids, which were said to be a very popular plant in Japan.

 

"Although it is a chilly winter day, we can feel the warmth from friendly China-Japan relations here," Wen said.

 

He also reiterated major consensuses the two sides had reached in earlier talks and meetings on Friday, including President Hu Jintao's visit to Japan next year "in a cherry blossom spring."

 

Fukuda described 2008 as "a very rare opportunity" for the development of bilateral ties, as it marked the 30th anniversary of a Sino-Japanese friendship and peace treaty, which was signed by his father, the late former Japanese Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda, and the late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping in 1978.

 

Wen surprised Fukuda on Friday by presenting him with a photo of the treaty signing scene and his father's inscribed works as special gifts.

 

"The Sino-Japanese friendship brings peace to the world," the father, Takeo Fukuda, had written in cursive script, a traditional form of Chinese handwriting.

 

After Saturday morning's breakfast, Wen and Fukuda played baseball, a spontaneous game that followed Fukuda's suggestion during Friday's talks.

 

Later, Fukuda visited a primary school in northeastern Beijing and then left for Tianjin, a northern port city, where he visited the Binhai new area, an economic development zone, and a factory of Tianjin FAW Toyota Motor Co. Ltd.

 

The Binhai new area houses more than 6,300 companies, including over 70 joint ventures among the world's top 500 companies.

 

Tianjin was a forward-looking and flourishing city, and its development was quite eye-catching, Fukuda said.

 

"Japan has carried out active economic and trading cooperation and cultural exchanges with Tianjin, and Japan's Kobe and Tianjin have become sister cities, both demonstrating the deep feelings between the two peoples," he said, adding that Japan would try to promote the friendly relations to a new stage.

 

Zhang Gaoli, Party chief of Tianjin Municipality, also hoped that Fukuda's visit would bring new opportunities for cooperation and exchanges between the two sides.

 

Fukuda arrived in the city of Jinan, capital of east China's Shandong Province on Saturday afternoon where he met provincial Communist Party chief Li Jianguo.

 

Fukuda said friendly relationship should not be confined between national governments of Japan and China, but should be extended to wider scope through strengthening the cooperation between different local cities and communities at various levels.

 

He proposed the establishment of sisterhood between his hometown Yamanashi Prefecture and Shandong and added that the consulate general of Japan to be opened in Qingdao, a major port city, will further intensify the exchange and cooperation between Japan and Shangdong.

 

Fukuda will also visit the hometown of Confucius in Qufu, Shandong Province, before wrapping up his four-day China tour on Sunday.

 

(Xinhua News Agency December 30, 2007)