At the invitation of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso will pay an official visit to China on April 29-30.

The upcoming visit, the first between leaders of the two countries in 2009 as well as another important one following a number of exchanges of high-level visits last year, is sure to further advance China-Japan strategic and mutually beneficial relations.

China and Japan are close neighbors separated by a mere strip of water. The friendly exchanges of the two countries date back to more than 2,000 years ago.

In 1972, with the issuance of the Sino-Japanese Joint Statement, bilateral relations were formally normalized. The friendly cooperative relations between the two nations have been making headway ever since.

Six years later, the two sides signed the Treaty of Peace and Friendship. In 1998, they issued the Sino-Japanese Joint Declaration, declaring the establishment of a partnership of friendship and cooperation for peace and development. The three political documents have now become the bedrock for bilateral friendly cooperative relations.

In the past few years, however, relations between the two nations became frosty, with high-level visits between the two sides suspended and exchanges in various areas severely affected following Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's repeated visits to the Yasukuni Shrine where 14 Class A war criminals are honored, which greatly hurt the feelings of the Chinese people.

To tide over the difficult period in China-Japan relations, people from all walks of life in both countries who are committed to promoting the stable, long-term and friendly relations, made unremitting efforts.

In October 2006, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe paid an "ice-breaking" visit to China. During his stay in China, the two countries agreed to foster mutually beneficial relations based on common strategic interests in a bid to realize "peaceful coexistence, friendship for generations, mutually beneficial cooperation and common development."

They also agreed to adhere to the principles prescribed in the three political documents and properly handle the problems that hamper the development of bilateral ties.

In April 2007, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao paid a visit to Japan. The tour, which re-opened top-level visit exchanges between China and Japan, was widely acclaimed as "ice-thawing." In December 2007, Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda visited China in return. The visit, dubbed as "spring-herald," further clarified the basic principles and essence of their mutually beneficial relations based on common strategic interests.

During his "warm-spring" state visit to Japan in May 2008, Chinese President Hu Jintao and Japanese Prime Minister Fukuda issued a six-point joint statement on all-round promotion of strategic and mutually beneficial relations between the two countries, which became the fourth political document between the two countries alongside the previous three.

China and Japan not only made arrangements for promoting personnel exchange including high-level visits as well as dialogue and exchange of opinions in various fields and at various levels, covering politics, economy, foreign relations, defense and culture, but also reached broad consensus on mutually beneficial cooperation in such fields as environmental protection, finance, energy, information and communications and high-tech.

The "China-Japan Exchange Year of Culture and Sports" in 2007 and the "China-Japan Friendly Exchange Year of the Youth" in 2008 have also ushered in a new era in the cultural exchanges and exchanges between the younger generation of the two countries.

Following President Hu's "warm-spring" trip to Japan, cooperation between the two nations in economy and trade gathered greater momentum and made fresh headway. In 2007, two-way trade between the two countries increased by 13.8 percent year-on-year to 236 billion U.S. dollars. For the first time, the Chinese mainland became Japan's biggest trade partner. Despite the adverse impact of the global financial crisis, two-way trade, nevertheless, expanded by 13.0 percent year-on-year to 266.79 billion dollars in 2008.

Before taking up the post as prime minister in September 2008, Aso voiced his intention to achieve common interests by means of promoting Japan-China friendly relations. As prime minister, Aso met with Chinese leaders on various multilateral occasions, expressing his view that the two nations need to deepen mutual understanding and trust to further advance bilateral strategic and mutually beneficial ties.

As his official visit to China, Aso is expected to proceed from the overall situation of bilateral relations and make contributions to carrying on China-Japan friendship from generation to generation as well as to the advancement of strategic and mutually beneficial relations between the two countries.

(Xinhua News Agency April 27, 2009)