Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged on Wednesday to vigorously promote Sino-Japanese ties and strengthen bilateral cooperation in various fields.

"The relations between Japan and China are bilateral relations of great importance, and the maintenance and further development of the friendly relations are critical for peace and development of the region and even the whole world," Abe said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.

During his recent visit to China, he said, he had expressed the willingness to improve the bilateral relationship to a strategically and mutually beneficial one -- a future-oriented and mutually beneficial strategic relationship.

"It is important for us to work together in all fields and to stick to the common strategic goal which is aimed at maintaining regional peace and development," the prime minister said.

As next year is the 35th anniversary of the normalization of bilateral relations, Abe called on both sides to take the chance to further deepen exchanges in various fields.

Referring to the economic ties with China, he said the two economies were closely related.
 
"Japan gained great interests through investment in and exports to China, and China on the other had got 10 million more jobs through investment from Japan. Besides, China imported semi-manufactured goods from Japan and exported to other countries after processing," Abe said.

In this really closely-related relations, the current daily come-and-go of people between the two countries exceeded 10,000, he added.

"It is necessary to forcefully push both the political and the economic wheels forward to promote the Sino-Japanese relations," he said.

He also expressed the hope that bilateral cooperation on environment, energy, finance, IT and intellectual property rights could be further boosted.

On prospects of Sino-Japan relations, Abe said he believed that there were greater potentials for the development of the bilateral ties.

China would become more developed in the future, he said, adding "I am looking forward to seeing its development. China's development means opportunities for Japan, and I am willing to make efforts to further develop Japan-China relations in the future."

(Xinhua News Agency November 16, 2006)