On May 9, 2008, Chinese President Hu Jintao met in Yokohama with Kanagawa Prefecture Governor Shigefumi Matsuzawa and Hiroshi Nakada, mayor of Yokohama, capital of the prefecture south of Tokyo.

Hu talked about the prefecture's centuries-old exchange with China, especially the Yokohama China Town, one of the famous China towns in Japan, which has played an important role for Japanese people to contact and learn about the Chinese culture. The cities of Yokohama and Shanghai, and Kanagawa Prefecture and China's Liaoning Province have formed respectively into friendly cities and provinces. Over the years, bilateral exchanges and cooperation on economy, trade, and humanities have deepened continuously, which helps bring about important benefits to both sides and also makes positive contributions to the development of China-Japan relations, Hu said. Currently bilateral relations, with a sound momentum of improvement and development, are facing new opportunities for further progress, he added. Hu hoped that the prefecture and the city could do more for the development of the China-Japan strategic and mutually beneficial relations in the new times.

Matsuzawa and Nakada warmly welcomed Hu's visit and briefed the Chinese president on the development of Kanagawa Prefecture and Yokohama City. They spoke highly of the sound exchanges and cooperation of the prefecture and the city with relevant province and city of China on tourism, personnel contacts and exchanges of friendly provinces and cities. They extended their good wishes to the upcoming Beijing Olympics and the Shanghai Expo, saying the prefecture and the city are eager to take the opportunities to strengthen friendly cooperation with China. The two local officials also pledged efforts to implement the consensus reached by leaders of the two countries and help advance the bilateral relations.

On the morning of the same day, the Chinese president also visited a recycling plant of the JFE steel maker group in Kanagawa and learned about the development of recycling economy, especially of recycling technology.

Member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee (CPCCC) & Director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee Ling Jihua, Member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee (CPCCC) & Director of the Policy Research Office of the CPC Central Committee Wang Huning, State Councilor Dai Bingguo and other officials attended the above-mentioned activities.