Prior to President Hu Jintao's state visit to Japan, the initialing ceremony of the Consular Agreement between the People's Republic of China and Japan (hereinafter referred to as the Consular Agreement) was held in Beijing on April 25, 2008. Director-General Wei Wei of the Department of Consular Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Minister Hiroyasu Izumi of the Embassy of Japan in China initialed the Consular Agreement.

It is agreed by both sides that the Consular Agreement is a legal document to standardize the development of consular relations between China and Japan and conducive to protecting the right and interest of both countries and their people and promoting the good-neighborly friendship and cooperative relations between the two countries. The initialing of the agreement fully demonstrates that the two sides attach great importance to developing the consular relations. After the initialing, the two countries will discuss through diplomatic channels and set the date of formally signing the agreement and go through domestic legal procedures.