By Feng Zhaokui

President Hu Jintao's state visit to Japan last week, dubbed "the spring warmth trip" by the Japanese and Chinese press, was a complete success.

A friend of mine and a reporter for the weekly magazine Chubun (Chinese Review) in Japan, told me in a letter, "I have been covering President Hu's trip for the past few days and the mood of this visit has been very good".

A Japanese professor wrote in a letter, "President Hu's visit to Japan has left a very good impression among the Japanese public. Some of the media outlets in Japan that tried to play down its significance have changed their tone completely. The Japanese people who have been friendly to China are filled with great joy. I have to say President Hu does it best. My hat's off to him!"

After President Hu's Japan visit, some of my colleagues began thinking about "how China and Japan should keep the spring warmth" and how China can maintain the achievements of his Japan trip so as to prevent various problems from upsetting the Sino-Japanese relations again. On this I would like to share some of my thoughts with the readers.

The key for China and Japan to retain the spring warmth lies in their ability to forge a strong relationship. By relationship I mean "ties" in two senses: strategic ties between the two nations and emotional ties between the two peoples.

People still remember that China-Japan relations were very good in the years from the start of China's reform and opening-up in 1978 through the whole 1980s. "China-Japan friendship" was not only a slogan that won people's hearts but was also reflected in their actions.

For example, the Great Get-together of Chinese and Japanese Youths in 1983 remains a wonderful memory for both nations. Many of those who took part have become leading long-time promoters of China-Japan (Japan-China) friendship.

Though some problems and frictions occurred between the two countries at that time, the Sino-Japanese ties overall were kept well and stable. If one has to sum up the fundamental reason for that memorable period in one sentence, it is because of the strong ties existed between China and Japan back then.