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Chinese President has begun a five-day visit to Japan as he arrived in the capital city Tokyo on Tuesday, May 06, 2008. This is the first trip by a Chinese head in a decade. After Mr. Hu Jintao arrived in Tokyo, he said that he hoped his visit would enhance friendship between the two nations. Both the Asian giants had sour relations over a decade and had suspended high level contact after Japanese premier Junichiro Koizumi, made several visits to Yasukuni War Shrine, a place which is abhorred by most Chinese for glorifying war criminals and soldiers.
Japan’s current Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and President Hu Jintao are expected to discuss bilateral trade, security concerns in the Asian region and a dispute over undersea gas fields. During his five day visit, President Hu is also expected to meet Japanese Emperor Akihito. President Hu while talking to Japanese Journalists before leaving for Tokyo had termed his visit to Japan as one in a ‘Warm Spring’, which would result in ‘warm spring friendship between the two nations’. The importance of the visit to Japan is underlined by the fact that, President Hu’s visit to Japan is the longest visit he has ever made to a single nation as a head of the Republic of China.
