President Hu, Japan PM discuss closer bilateral ties

<p>TOKYO -- Visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao and Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda met in Tokyo Wednesday for talks on furthering strategic and mutually beneficial relations.</p><p>Chinese foreign ministry officials said the two leaders discussed bilateral relations and other issues of common concern.</p><p>The two leaders are expected to attend a signing ceremony for mutual cooperation documents, and meet the press following their talks.</p><p>Earlier, President Hu Jintao met Japanese Emperor Akihito.</p><p>Before their meeting, the Chinese president attended a welcome ceremony hosted by the emperor.</p><p>President Hu arrived in Tokyo Tuesday for a state visit aimed at boosting the strategic and mutually beneficial relations between China and Japan.</p><p>Later in the day, President Hu is expected to hold talks with Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda on Sino-Japanese ties and other issues of common concern.</p><p>Hu's visit to Japan, the first by a Chinese president in 10 years, is seen as a step to further improve the once-chilly relationship between the neighbors, which started to warm with former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's "ice-breaking" visit  to China in October 2006. That event was followed by the "ice-thawing" Japan trip by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao last April and Fukuda's "spring-herald" visit to China last December.</p><p>In an interview with Japanese journalists in Beijing on Sunday, President Hu said that his state visit to Japan is a "trip of warm spring" and wished for a "warm spring for the friendship between the two peoples".</p><p> </p></div>