Premier Wen Jiabao will begin his "ice-thawing" trip to Japan on April 11, advancing efforts to establish strategic and mutually beneficial bilateral ties.

The three-day tour will be the first by the Chinese premier in seven years, as the two countries work hard to improve relations, which were chilled by former Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi's repeated visits to a war shrine.

Wen will fly to Tokyo from Seoul, where he is expected to stay for two days to attend the opening ceremony of the Year of Exchange, a yearlong exchange program celebrating the 15th anniversary of diplomatic ties between China and South Korea.

According to Japanese sources, Wen will hold a summit meeting with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe and also make an official visit to Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko. A speech at the Japanese Parliament during his stay is also on a tentative schedule.

The two nations also hope to hold a major energy seminar during Wen's visit with participants from government ministries and leaders of about 100 Japanese and Chinese energy firms.

Meanwhile, China and Japan have agreed to hold talks in Tokyo tomorrow over the gasfield disputes in the East China Sea.

Hu Zhenyue, a foreign ministry senior official in charge of Asian affairs and director-general of Japan's agency for natural resources and energy, will attend the meeting.

China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said yesterday in a regular press briefing that the two countries have different views in this area but "we believe joint development is the best way to resolve the differences".

Similar dialogues have been held six times since October 2004, but a breakthrough has yet to be reached.

In his annual press conference earlier this month, Premier Wen said he was expecting to establish a strategic relationship of mutual benefit between China and Japan and set up an economic cooperation mechanism during his Japan tour.

Wen's remarks were echoed by Abe, who told a news conference yesterday that his Chinese counterpart's visit would provide an opportunity to build a strategic relationship.

Abe chose China as the destination for his first overseas trip after taking office in September, a move that is believed to have improved bilateral ties.

"Our cooperation based on active discussions will lead to peace and prosperity in the region," Abe was quoted as saying.

He said he will seek Wen's support to resolve the kidnapping issue with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and also wanted to win China's support for Japan's bid for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.

Responding to Abe's comments, Qin Gang expressed the sympathy for and understanding of the abduction problem but said it was still an issue between Tokyo and Pyongyang, which should be resolved through negotiations.

With regard to the Security Council seat, Qin said it "required multilateral dialogues to decide and would involve many countries".

He also rebutted a Japanese Defence Ministry report, which called China's growing influence in Asia a threat to Japan's national security, saying China hopes to have good relations with its neighbors across the entire region.

(China Daily 03/28/2007 page3)