On February 22, 2008, Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan attended a breakfast meeting held by Japan Business Federation in Tokyo.

Tang said as China and Japan are important cooperative partners of each other, economic and trade cooperation between the two countries is a significant part of Sino-Japanese relations. Bilateral relationship has returned to the normal track and is moving towards building strategic mutual benefits. President Hu Jintao's upcoming visit to Japan is an important opportunity faced by both sides to develop bilateral relations, said Tang. The improvement and development of Sino-Japanese relations has opened up broader prospect for closer bilateral trade exchanges and cooperation, he said, expressing hope that the Japanese business community will advance with the times, be enterprising and innovative and continuously expand the scale of bilateral trade and mutual investment. Tang also urged both sides to actively push for cooperation on energy conservation, environmental protection, energy resources, technological innovation and international trade to make more contributions to promoting Sino-Japanese relations.

Fujio Mitarai, Chairman of Japan Business Federation, said the body highly praised the positive progress bilateral ties have made in political, economic and humanistic exchanges. The Japanese businesses attach great importance to cooperation with China and warmly welcome President Hu's upcoming Japan visit, he said, adding that they are ready to, as always, make unremitting efforts for promoting Japan-China exchanges and cooperation.