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Japan's Prime Minister Looking Forward to Zhu Rongji's Visit
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori said Thursday he is looking forward to Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji's visit to Japan and expressed the hope that Zhu's visit would be a great success.
"The Japanese government hopes that through Zhu's visit, the two countries would further consolidate and develop the friendly and cooperative partnership for peace and development as agreed by leaders of the two countries during Chinese President Jiang Zemin's visit to Japan in 1998," said Mori in an interview with Tokyo-based Chinese reporters.
He also voiced the hope that the two countries will advance the implementation of the 33 cooperation items, which were agreed by Jiang and the late Japanese prime minister Keizo Obuchi, and promote cooperation and coordination between the two countries not only on bilateral issues, but also on regional and global issues.
As the new century approaches, Mori said, Japan and China should enhance friendly and cooperative bilateral relations on the basis of the 1998 Japan-China Joint Declaration, and join hands to work for peace and development in Asia and the world at large.
"Japan-China ties have witnessed great development despite the two countries' different social systems since the two countries normalized diplomatic relations in 1972," Mori said.
As Jiang pointed out in his speech in May, the development of Japan-China friendly relationship is the mainstream of bilateral ties, with the 1972 Japan-China Joint Statement serving as its basis, Mori said, adding that the Japanese government's stance on the issue remains unchanged.
The Japanese prime minister also hoped that the two countries would come to specific agreements on expanding economic cooperation during Zhu's visit.
Zhu is to arrive here Thursday evening for a six-day official visit at the invitation of the Japanese government.
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