Chinese president meets Japanese PM in Beijing 

Source: Xinhuanet

10-08-2006 18:41

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BEIJING, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the Great Hall of the People Sunday afternoon, soon after Abe's talks with Premier Wen Jiabao.

"Your ongoing visit is serving as a turning point in the China-Japan relations and I hope it would also serve as a new starting point for the improvement and development of bilateral ties," Hu told Abe, congratulating upon Abe's taking office as prime minister.

Hu spoke highly of Abe's choosing China as the destination of his first official overseas trip, saying it indicated Abe has attached great importance to the improvement and development of the relations between the two neighbors.

Shortly afterwards, top legislator Wu Bangguo will meet with Abe, who arrived here earlier Sunday and will fly to Seoul early Monday.

Abe, who took office Sept. 26, is the first Japanese postwar prime minister who chose China as the destination of his first official overseas trip. It's also the first visit to China by a Japanese prime minister in five years.

Editor:Sun Luying