China wants relations with Japan to "get back on track"

China hopes Japan's ruling parties can take positive measures and bring bilateral relations back on track, Wang Jiarui, head of the International Liaison Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC), said on January 24.

Wang made the comments during a meeting in Beijing with Natsuo Yamaguchi, chairman of Japan's New Komeito Party, the smaller party in the two-party ruling coalition, which includes the Liberal Democratic Party.

Mr. Natsuo Yamaguchi and Chinese General Secretary Xi Jinping at an event in 2009 (Source: Xinhua)

Mr. Wang appreciated the New Komeito Party's contributions to the development of China-Japan relations, noting that strengthening bilateral strategic relations according to the principles in the four political documents of the two countries conforms to the fundamental interests of the two peoples.

For his part, Mr. Yamaguchi affirmed that the New Komeito Party is willing to contribute to improving bilateral relations through friendly exchanges with the CPC.

Mr. Yamaguchi is the first senior member of Japan's ruling coalition to visit Beijing since Tokyo announced in September 2012 that it would "purchase" the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands, a move that strained bilateral relations.

During this visit to China, Mr. Yamaguchi is said to have brought a handwritten letter from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Xi Jinping./.

According to (Vietnam+) - DT