Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi said in Beijing Tuesday that tourism departments of China and Japan should continue their cooperation to improve the friendship between the peoples of the two countries.

Wu made the remarks while meeting with Kitagawa Kazuo, Japan's land, infrastructure and transport minister.

She said China and Japan are important neighbors, and their relationship has made great progress in the past 33 years since the normalization of their diplomatic ties.

To push forward Sino-Japanese friendship is the common aspiration of the two peoples and a historical trend, Wu said, adding the two countries should learn from history and face the future.

Wu said Japanese have long been major visitors to China. In 2004, the number of Japanese tourists to China could exceed 3.2 million and Chinese visitors to Japan could hit 1 million for the first time as relevant calculation is going on.

Kitagawa Kazuo said the relationship between Japan and China is important, and he expressed the willingness to further cooperation with China in tourism, transport and other fields.

(Xinhua News Agency January 19, 2005)