Visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao said in Tokyo Wednesday that the fourth political document represents the new progress as well as fresh consensus the two countries have reached.

China and Japan signed a joint statement on advancing strategic and mutually beneficial relations after President Hu and Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda held talks earlier Wednesday.

Based on the three political documents, the joint statement formulates the guiding principles for the long-term development of bilateral ties and maps out the future for China-Japan relations, said Hu in a joint press briefing with Fukuda.

Hu said he believes that under the guidance of the new political document and the previous three, China and Japan will surely be able to open up a brighter future for their relations.

The previous three political documents, namely 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.

In 1972, China and Japan issued the Sino-Japanese Joint Statement and normalized diplomatic relations. The year of 2008 marks the 30th anniversary of the endorsement of China-Japan Treaty of Peace and Friendship. The Sino-Japanese Joint Declaration was signed during former Chinese President Jiang Zemin's state visit to Japan in 1998.

President Hu arrived here Tuesday for a five-day "warm-spring" state visit, the first trip by a Chinese president to Japan in a decade.

(Xinhua News Agency May 8, 2008)