Li Keqiang (C), a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of CPC Central Committee, meet with members of the new 21st Century Committee for China-Japan Friendship, January 29, 2008. Li voiced a commitment in Beijing on Tuesday to boost cooperation with Japan and take bilateral relations to a new level. 

A leader of the Communist Party of China (CPC) voiced a commitment in Beijing on Tuesday to boost cooperation with Japan and take bilateral relations to a new level.

Li Keqiang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of CPC Central Committee, called on the two sides to seize the historical opportunity to expand friendly exchanges and deepen cooperation, increase mutual understanding and push forward the China-Japan strategic relationship and reciprocal relations.?

China-Japan relations are entering an important stage of development, Li said in his meeting with the policy consultants of the new 21st Century Committee for China-Japan Friendship.

He also stressed that lasting stable and healthy relations between the two Asian neighbors not only served the fundamental interests of the two countries and two peoples but were conducive to the peace, stability and development of the region and the world at large.

Policy consultants from both countries gathered in Beijing on Sunday for the 7th meeting of the committee.

The two-day meeting focused on how to implement the consensus reached during Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's visit to China last month and on Chinese President Hu Jintao's upcoming trip to Japan.

Yotaro Kobayashi, the chief Japanese member of the committee, expressed his appreciation of the recent comprehensive development of bilateral relations.

He pledged that Japan would support China's peaceful development and actively promote bilateral cooperation in fields such as environmental protection, energy utilization and exchange between younger generations.

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.
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(Xinhua News Agency January 30, 2008)