On the afternoon of July 4, 2006, Chairman Wu Bangguo of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) of China met in the Great Hall of the People with the delegation of the House of Representatives of the Japanese Parliament, who is here to attend the second meeting of the cooperation committee between the NPC of China and Japan's House of Representatives.

Wu said that China and Japan are important close neighbors to each other. To develop long-term stable good-neighborly cooperation is not only in the fundamental interest of the two peoples, but also conducive to peace, stability and development of this region and the world at large. Wu pointed out that the Chinese government has always been looking at China-Japan relations from a strategic and long-term perspective and committed to peaceful coexistence, friendship for generations to come, mutually beneficial cooperation and common development. He emphasized that it is an important political basis of bilateral ties to correctly review and handle the historical issues. The two sides should bear in mind the spirit of "taking history as a mirror and facing forward to the future" and the overall development of bilateral ties, and remove the political obstacle in bilateral relations, so as to get China-Japan relations back to the track of healthy development as soon as possible.

After positively commenting the regular exchange mechanism between the NPC of China and Japan's House of Representatives, as well as its progress and achievements, Wu pointed out that MPs represent the people and the parliament reflects the public opinion. Parliamentary exchange is an important part of state-to-state relations. It is hoped that the unique role of bilateral regular exchange mechanism, as an important platform, will be given more play. The two sides should continue to reinforce dialogue, promote personnel contact, build up mutual understanding and push for mutually beneficial cooperation, in a bid to improve and develop bilateral ties.

Genichiro Sata, Head of the Diet delegation and Chairman of the Committee on Rules and Administration of Japan's House of Representatives, said that to advance bilateral friendship is a common belief of all parties in Japan's House of Representatives and serves the fundamental interest of the Japanese people. He indicated that Japan's House of Representatives is ready to work with the NPC of China to further develop the regular exchange mechanism and make greater efforts to improve bilateral ties.

Vice-Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) of China Lu Yongxiang and other officials attended the meeting.