Visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao said Wednesday that China and Japan should make joint efforts to open up a new prospect for their strategic and mutually beneficial ties.

Hu, who is on a five-day state visit to Japan, made the remarks during his talks with Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda. The visit is the first trip to Japan paid by China's head of state in a decade.

The two countries are facing new opportunities for furthering their ties, Hu said, adding both sides should make joint efforts and make a use of the opportunities to promote bilateral ties to a new high.

The Chinese president suggested the two countries consolidate the political foundation for their bilateral relations.

The two countries should abide by the principles set forth in the three political documents to guide bilateral ties and properly handle important and sensitive issues such as history and the Taiwan issue in line with the principle of taking history as a mirror and looking forward to the future, Hu said.

He also urged the two sides to enhance strategic mutual-trust. The two countries should treat each other as a long-term cooperative partner, support the other's peaceful development, care the other's major concerns and properly address any disagreement through dialogue and consultation, he said.

Hu said the two sides should deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, make a full use of the complementarity between their economies, create new major fields and new vantage points for cooperation, greatly promote trade and economic cooperation, and consolidate the material foundation for China-Japan ties.

Hu also proposed that personnel and cultural exchanges be carried out at various levels, via multiple channels and in different fields to enhance mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples, especially between younger generations of the two countries.

The Chinese president said the two sides should strengthen strategic coordination and cooperation, with the focus on Asia. He suggested both sides join hands in promoting the peace mechanism in East Asia and Asia's regional cooperation and contribute to the rise of Asia and embrace global challenges.

Hu's visit to Japan is seen as a step to further improve the once-chilly relationship between the two neighbors, which began to warm with former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's "ice-breaking" visit to China in October 2006. That visit was followed by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's "ice-thawing" trip to Japan last April and Fukuda's "spring-herald" visit to China last December.

(Xinhua News Agency May 8, 2008)