China and Japan pledged to hold annual meetings and put past suspicions behind them, as President Hu Jintao visited Japan, the Wall Street Journal reported. "Our relations are at a new starting point," Hu said during the visit, the first by a Chinese president in a decade. "Japan and China have an important responsibility to assure peace in Asia." However, outstanding points of contention between the two countries were not resolved. A dispute remains over an area in the East China Sea, which both countries want to explore for gas reserves, although Fukuda said a breakthrough may now be possible. Japan is China’s biggest trading partner, with more than US$300 billion in bilateral trade, including Hong Kong, last year.
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