Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao says China and Japan should deepen their friendship and play down conflicts between the two countries and peoples, Press TV reported.
"Although there are still some problems and conflicts between the two countries, and some misunderstanding between the two peoples, I am confident the China-Japan friendship is rooted among the two peoples and we must inherit and push forward the friendship," Wen said in Tokyo on Sunday in an address to representatives of China-Japan friendship organizations and Chinese societies based in Japan.
Over the past three years, Sino-Japanese relations have made progress on the track of healthy development, Wen noted and urged the two countries to take history as a mirror and look into the future.
Against the background of tackling the global crisis, China and Japan need to jointly promote cooperation in various fields to overcome difficulties and seek common development, Xinhua quoted the Chinese premier as saying.
Wen arrived in Tokyo on Sunday afternoon for an official visit to Japan after attending a China-Japan-South Korea trilateral summit in Seoul.
This is his second visit to Japan since 2007.