This year marks the 30th anniversary of the signing of the China-Japan Treaty of Peace and Friendship, and the Sino-Japanese relations are facing new opportunities for further development, Chinese President Hu Jintao said Tuesday.

In a written statement issued at the airport upon his arrival in Tokyo, Hu said that both China and Japan are important countries in Asia and in the world, and "the development of long-term stable and good neighborly friendship between China and Japan is in the fundamental interests of the two countries and the two peoples."

The Chinese president arrived in Tokyo Tuesday, kicking off a five-day "warm spring" trip to Japan aimed at boosting the strategic and mutually beneficial relations between the two Asian nations.

In the statement, the president said he hopes the visit can enhance mutual trust, strengthen friendship, deepen cooperation and make programs for the future, and that the two countries will open up new prospects for comprehensively pushing forward the China-Japan strategic and mutually beneficial relations.

(Xinhua News Agency May 6, 2008)