Top legislator vows greater exchanges with Japan's parliament

Top legislator Zhang Dejiang has told a visiting delegation of Japanese lawmakers on Wednesday that the National People's Congress is willing to conduct institutionalized exchanges at all levels with the Japanese parliament.

The delegation was in Beijing to attend the ninth meeting of the cooperation committee between the NPC and the Japanese lower house.

The NPC, China's top legislative body, is also ready to "jointly champion the political basis of the bilateral relationship", Zhang said in a Wednesday meeting with the delegation.

The two legislative bodies are hoped to promote cultural and people-to-people exchanges and contribute to the improvement of the China-Japan relationship, Zhang said.

Tsutomu Sato, chief of the Japanese lower house steering committee and a lawmaker with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, told Zhang he expects reinforced exchanges between the two legislative bodies to boost their understanding and bring the two-way relationship forward.

This year marks the 45th anniversary of the normalization of China-Japan diplomatic relations.

Zhang said both sides should take history as a lesson and face up to the future.

The two countries should stick to the principles and the spirit of the four key political documents between the countries and make sure the relationship moves forward on the right track, Zhang added.