Chinese President Hu Jintao met Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso on Thursday, calling on the two sides to cherish achievements made in bilateral ties.

Chinese President Hu Jintao (R) meets with Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso in Beijing, capital of China, April 30, 2009. [Xinhua]

"Since my visit to Japan in May last year, related parties on the two sides have made every effort to implement the consensus and decisions agreed upon during the visit, and had attained important progress in promoting the strategic and mutually-beneficial relations between China and Japan," Hu told Aso at the Great Hall of the People.

"These achievements have not come easy and should be cherished by us," said Hu.

Hu noted that as the global financial crisis spreads, trade between China and Japan had declined obviously. He urged the two sides to take effective measures to put bilateral trade and investment back on the track of stable growth as soon as possible.

China and Japan must step up information exchange and policy coordination, explore new areas of cooperation and exploit the full potential of their cooperation. They must particularly ensure successes in cooperation in energy-saving and environmental protection, information and telecommunications and high-tech industries, said Hu.

Sino-Japanese trade slid by 7.4 percent year on year in December and plumped by 24 percent in the first quarter of this year, figures from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce show.

Hu noted personnel and culture exchanges have an important and far-reaching impact on the development of Sino-Japan relations.

He urged the two countries to make full use of the existing channels and mobile every resources available to raise bilateral personnel and cultural exchanges, especially the exchanges between youths in general and young officials in particular, to a new height.

In multilateral areas, China and Japan should focus on advancing cooperation in East Asia so that the sub-region will collectively respond to global challenges such as the current financial crisis, he said.

The two countries must further enhance their coordination and cooperation in such regional mechanisms as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations plus China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK), the East Asia summit and the China, Japan plus ROK format, so that together they can promote peace, stability and development in Asia and the world at large, Hu said.

Aso said since Hu's successful visit to Japan in May last year, the two sides have made important progresses in implementing the projects agreed upon during the visits.

He expressed Japan's appreciation of the fact that the two countries have maintained frequent exchanges of visits by and good communications between state leaders.

Japanese and Chinese leaders have also met for many times in bilateral and multilateral occasions to exchange opinions on bilateral relations and issues of common concern, said Aso.

Japan and China are neighbors. Sound cooperation in political and economic fields and the continuous advancement of the strategic and mutually-beneficial relationship between them have laid a solid foundation for the future of this relationship, said the Japanese prime minister.

Aso said it is Japan's wish that the two countries will continue with the close communications at high level, strengthen cooperation in various fields, step up coordination in coping with the international financial and economic crisis, and promote youth exchanges.

Aso arrived in Beijing on Wednesday for a two-day China tour, his first official visit to China since he took office in September.

(Xinhua News Agency April 30, 2009)