On the afternoon of April 7th, 2004, State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan met in Ziguangge, Zhongnanhai with the senior delegation of Nippon Television Network (NTV) headed by its Chairman Seiichiro Ujiie.

Tang Jiaxuan said the mainstream of China-Japan relations remains good. With the strenuous efforts of several generations of leadership and personages of insights of the two countries, China-Japan relations have achieved considerable progress. To ensure better development of the bilateral relations under the new circumstances, the two sides have to fulfill the following tasks:

First, we need to maintain the overall friendly relations between the two countries and cherish existing achievements.

Second, we need to take history as a mirror and look into the future.

Third, we need to constantly seek and expand new common interests.

Fourth, we need to properly address the problems that exist and arise between the two countries in a rational and sober manner, particularly the issue of history and the Taiwan question, which have a bearing on the very political basis for bilateral relations between the two countries.

Tang Jiaxuan said the media is exerting more and more influence on the public opinion in the information age and thus bears an increasingly important responsibility. He hoped to see more reports that help promote the friendship between the two peoples and maintain the overall situation of China-Japan relations by the Japanese media.

Seiichiro Ujiie said NTV would like to continue to expand its coverage of China so as to play an active part in promoting the smooth development of the bilateral relations.

On the same day, Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Deputy Editor-in-chief of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television Tian Jin also met respectively with the NTV delegation, whose 19 members are paying a visit to China from April 6th to 11th at the invitation of the Information Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The delegation will also visit Shanghai in addition to Beijing.