Head of China-Japan Friendship Association meets Osaka Governor, Mayor

OSAKA, April 22 (Xinhua) -- Tang Jiaxuan, president of the China-Japan Friendship Association, held talks with Osaka Governor Ichiro Matsui and Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto in Osaka on Sunday.

Tang arrived in Osaka earlier in the day to pay an eight-day visit to Japan. It's Tang's first visit to the country since assuming the post as president of the China-Japan Friendship Association last month.

During the talks, Tang said one purpose of his visit is to exchange views with the Japanese people from all walks of life on how to further promote the development of bilateral strategic and mutually beneficial relationship between China and Japan.

As this year marks the 40th anniversary of the normalization of China-Japan diplomatic relations, the two countries have decided to hold a series of events to further expand exchanges between the two peoples, Tang said.

Through such grass-root exchanges, the two peoples would enhance friendship, deepen mutual trust, enabling further promotion of long-term stable development of Sino-Japanese ties, Tang added.

Tang said the China-Japan Friendship Association is willing to make efforts together with Osaka Prefecture and Osaka City to further expand exchanges and cooperation between the two peoples.

Matsui extended congratulations to Tang on his new post and expressed the hope that Japan-China ties would see deeper and better development.

Meanwhile, Hashimoto expressed thanks to Tang for selecting Osaka as the first place of his visit to Japan. Hashimoto said he hopes that Tang, after assuming the new post, would extend more support toward Osaka's exchange and cooperation with China.

During his stay in Japan, Tang is also scheduled to tour Tokyo, Sendai and Hokkaido.