Chinese President Hu Jintao said Wednesday that statesmen from both China and Japan should take a responsible attitude toward history and their peoples in boosting the development of bilateral relations.  

Hu, also general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), made the remark at a meeting with a delegation from the Japanese Komei Party led by its Representative Kanzaki Takenori.

Hu said statesmen from both countries should, in the spirit of peaceful co-existence and friendship for generations enshrined in the three political documents between the two countries, including the Sino-Japanese joint statement, and in the important principles in handling historical issues and the Taiwan question, continuously consolidate the political basis for the development of bilateral relations so as to ensure a sound and steady progress of bilateral ties.

Hu spoke highly of the friendly exchanges between political parties of the two countries, saying such exchanges constitute an important component of bilateral relations and have played an indispensable role in the normalization and the sound development of bilateral relations.

Both sides should continue such exchanges to make new contributions to promoting the bilateral good-neighborly friendship and cooperation in the new century, said Hu.

Kanzaki said the Komei Party attaches great importance to its friendly exchanges with the CPC, and will continue to enhance high-level exchanges between the two parties and promote exchanges between young statesmen of the two countries.

He said the further development of the bilateral good-neighborly friendship and cooperation conforms to the fundamental interest of Japan and China, and the Komei Party will, in the spirit of the three political documents between the two countries, actively work for resolution to existing issues between the two countries and continuously push forward the development of Japan-China relations.

(Xinhua News Agency February 12, 2004)