Fukuda wraps up visit to China

Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda called for closer cooperation with China yesterday as he wrapped up a four-day visit in which the two sides pledged to build on a recent thaw in relations.

"This trip to China has been very meaningful," Fukuda told reporters after visiting a shrine in eastern China to the ancient philosopher Confucius (孔子).

"I have talked with Chinese leaders and agreed that Japan and China can do more if they cooperate than each can do single-handedly," he said.

During his landmark visit, Fukuda held talks with Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) and President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) in Beijing on closer cooperation between the countries in trade, climate change and other fields, although they failed to close the gap in a stubborn dispute over maritime gas fields.

Fukuda, however, has accentuated the positive during his trip, his first to China since becoming prime minister in September and the latest step forward in a relationship marred by decades of distrust.

"There's no good thing if Japan and China confront each other," Fukuda said yesterday.

Both sides have said Hu intends to visit Japan next year, probably in the spring, at the culmination of a series of landmark visits that also saw Wen travel to Japan earlier this year.

Disputes remain, however, particularly the deadlock over gas fields in the East China Sea that straddle the nations' maritime claims.

The Japanese have been pushing China for progress on the issue but none was achieved during Fukuda's stay.

In his last stop in China, Fukuda visited a shrine to Confucius in the Shandong Province city of Qufu, birthplace of the philosopher, before departing for a flight home.

After leaving Beijing on Saturday, Fukuda had visited the eastern city of Tianjin where he inspected Japanese investments, including a Toyota plant.

Japan is the biggest foreign investor in China and trade between the two countries was worth US$207.35 billion last year, up 12.4 percent from 2005.