Sino-Japanese relations have shown signs of improvement and development, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said Thursday.

Jiang made the comment at a regular news briefing, attributing the improved ties to "the many meetings and contacts" between Chinese and Japanese leaders at multilateral occasions and the important consensuses they had reached.

After a ship collision soured the bilateral ties, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan had briefly met in Hanoi ahead of the East Asian Summit and on the sidelines of the Asia-Europe Meeting in Brussels.

"Attaching great importance to the bilateral relations, China is willing to work with Japan to promote the mutually strategic relationship to new highs," Jiang said.

Both sides should act in accordance with the principles of the four political documents, and maintain the healthy and stable development of the relationship, she said.

The four political documents, namely the China-Japan Joint Statement on Comprehensively Advancing Strategic and Reciprocal Relations, the Sino-Japanese Joint Statement, the China-Japan Treaty of Peace and Friendship and the Sino-Japanese Joint Declaration, serve as the bedrock for developing friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries.

China is willing to strengthen cooperation with Japan in security dialogue and step up mutual trust, Jiang said. She confirmed that China and Japan would hold their 12th security dialogue in Beijing in the near future.

Two Japanese Coast Guard patrol ships and a Chinese trawler collided on Sept. 7 in waters off the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea, and Japan illegally detained the trawler's captain.

China halted bilateral exchanges at and above the provincial and ministerial levels and suspended talks on expanding aviation services between the two countries.

Asked to comment on Japan's new defense guidelines to be released, which will re-orient its national security more towards China, Jiang reiterated China's peaceful development path and defense policies posed no threat to any other country.

China hopes Japan will do more to contribute to bilateral mutual trust and preserve peace and stability of the region, the spokeswoman said.