Chinese premier kicks off "ice-thawing" visit to Japan

Source: Xinhuanet | 04-11-2007 19:01

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is greeted while arriving in Tokyo, capital of Japan, April 11, 2007. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao arrived here Wednesday for a three-day official visit. (Xinhua Photo/Rao Aimin)

TOKYO, April 11 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao arrived here Wednesday for a three-day official visit he described as an "ice thawer" of Sino-Japanese ties following the "ice-breaking" trip to China last October by his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe.

The visit is the first by a Chinese premier since 2000 and occurs against the backdrop of the two countries working hard to mend relations.

Their relationship turned frosty under Abe's predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi, largely due to his annual visits to the Yasukuni shrine, where Japan's war dead including 14 class-A World War II criminals were enshrined.

"If Prime Minister Abe's visit to China... can be described as an ice breaker, then I hope my visit to Japan will be an ice thawer," Wen told the press before his visit.

Abe chose China as the destination for his first overseas trip after taking office in September, a move believed to be a sign of the new prime minister's eagerness to improve relations with China.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry officials have revealed that the economic issue will be high up on Wen's agenda.

China and Japan will draft a joint document spelling out the two countries' aspirations to build a strategic, mutually beneficial relationship, and the major tasks involved in this relationship, according to Chinese officials.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said that through the visit, Wen also hopes to promote long-term educational, cultural and youth exchanges between the two countries that would boost good-neighborly relations between China and Japan.