The newly-signed China-Japan joint statement has formulated guiding principles for long-term development of China-Japan ties and mapped out the future for bilateral relations, say Chinese scholars on international relations.

"The statement, with key words 'strategic' and 'reciprocal', carries forward the China-Japan relations," said Gao Hong, an expert on Japanese issues with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Chinese President Hu Jintao signed a joint statement on comprehensively advancing strategic and reciprocal relations between the two countries with Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda during his state visit to Japan from May 6 to 10, the first by a Chinese president to Japan in a decade.

The statement is considered as the fourth important political document, with the other three being the China-Japan Joint Statement issued on Sept. 29, 1972, the China-Japan Treaty of Peace and Friendship signed on Aug. 12, 1978, and the China-Japan Joint Declaration released on Nov. 26, 1998.

Great changes had taken place in international society in past 10 years, and the China-Japan ties had also seen "ups and downs", which called for a new guidance for the growth in bilateral ties, Gao said.

China and Japan overcame political obstacles when Hu and former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met in Beijing in October 2006.To further "thaw the ice", Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited Japan in April last year, followed by Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's "spring-heralding" visit to China in December.

Xu Dunxin, former Vice Foreign Minister and ambassador to Japan, said the statement served as a bridge "linking past with future".

Yang Bojiang, expert on Japanese studies of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said, the statement, with "unique Sino-Japanese character", would enhance the political foundation of bilateral ties, improve strategic mutual trust, and build up a general framework to maintain healthy and stable development of bilateral relations.