anese soil in 10 years on Wednesday, but fell short of any concrete solutions to the myriad disputes dividing them. Chinese President Hu Jintao and Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda met in a meticulously choreographed visit aimed at fortifying a rapprochement launched in 2006 after relations had plunged to their lowest point since World War II.
The two pledged to work together on everything from climate change to North Korea and territorial disputes, and Fukuda hinted -- without elaborating -- that the neighbors were on the verge of settling a spat over maritime gas deposits.
They also announced Tokyo and Beijing would hold annual summits, a step to prevent a recurrence of the decade-long gap in visits to Japan by Chinese presidents since Jiang Zemin's rocky trip to Tokyo in 1998.
"I hope this will be a year of progress in Sino-Japanese ties that will define the bilateral relationship far into the future," Fukuda said at the opening of the summit.
Hu responded in kind in a joint news conference afterward.
"Our relations are at a new starting point, and we have a new chance," Hu said, adding later: "Japan and China have an important responsibility to assure peace in Asia."
Little concrete action, however, was taken to permanently defuse conflicts that have proved troublesome in recent years: the gas dispute, emotional clashes over interpretations of wartime history, and lingering mutual public distrust. The history issue was shelved by both sides, and resolution of the natural gas exploitation was left for future negotiations, though Fukuda said a "breakthrough" was imminent. Flash points such as China's handling of Tibet and Japan's concerns over Beijing's burgeoning military budget were handled without sparks.
Instead, Hu and Fukuda played up confidence-building atmospherics.
Hu offered to loan a couple of pandas to Japan following the death last week of 22-year old giant panda Ling Ling at Tokyo's largest zoo, and Fukuda thanked him. Local media reports said the two could play Pingpong at a Tokyo university on Thursday.
The two sides' apparent determination to emphasize the positive in a relationship that has been so sour in the past illustrated the recognition by both sides that cooperation can be very lucrative. China is the world's most populous country; Japan is home to its second-largest economy.
China, with Hong Kong included, is Japan's largest trading partner, having eclipsed the United States. Bilateral trade reached US$237 billion (euro170 billion) last year, according to Chinese statistics.
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