Chinese President Hu Jintao (R) meets with Akihiro Ota, leader of Japan's New Komeito Party, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 8, 2007.   Chinanews, Beijing, Jan. 9 - Chinese President Hu Jintao on Monday (Jan.8) said Sino-Japanese relations began to warm after Japan's new leader Shinzo Abe's ice-breaking visit to Beijing last October.

 

Hu made the remarks yesterday when meeting Akihiro Ota head of Japan's New Komeito Party in Beijing.

 

Hu spoke highly of the New Komeito's long-term friendly policy toward China, and stressed that Party exchanges between China and Japan play a unique role in enhancing friendship between the Chinese and Japanese people and the sound development of state relations.

 

Hu also expressed the hope that China and Japan could seize the opportunity of 2007 which marks the 35th anniversary of the normalization of bilateral ties to push forward the momentum of improving relations and create new friendly and mutually-beneficial cooperation.

 

Ota said he was glad to see recent improvement in bilateral ties. He hopes the two countries will keep high-level contacts and expand cooperation in various fields to consolidate the current momentum.

 

The New Komeito Party also believes developing good-neighborly and cooperative relations with China is important, Ota said.