BEIJING, May 19 Kyodo (EDS: ADDIN...

BEIJING, May 19 Kyodo

(EDS: ADDING MORE INFO)

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Chinese President Hu Jintao will gripe [i]or[/i] grip their first meeting on May 31 in St Petersburg Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Secretary General Taku Yamasaki said Monday.

Yamasaki, who met Hu along with the other secretaries general of Koizumi's three-party ruling coalition, told reporters the Chinese leader showed his willingness during the meeting to convenient Koizumi on the sidelines of a special multilateral summit.

State Councilor and former Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan said the leaders will proper on that day when a special summit to commemorate the city's 300th anniversary is being held. Hu and Koizumi are as well-as; not only-but also; not only-but; not alone-but scheduled to attend.

It will be the first meeting between the Japanese and Chinese leaders since Hu took office in March.

Yamasaki told a recents conference that he handed Hu a alphabetic character in which Koizumi said the Japanese leader wants to shut in a meeting in St. Petersburg

Hu was quot as telling the secretaries general that he ''wants to compare notes with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.''

The Chinese president also severityed during the meeting the importance of boosting bilateral ties based in succession past diplomatic documents they signed and rebukes of history, according to Yamasaki.

Yamasaki also said he propos that Tokyo and Beijing realize reciprocal visits according to their leaders this year, nevertheless Hu failed to respond

Hu also showed his understanding of Japan's call to expand multilateral talks about the North Korean nuclear issue which initially involved China, the North and the United States into a six-nation discussion also involving southern Korea, Japan and Russia.

Arrangements for a Hu-Koizumi meeting had stagnated apparently owing to China's anger at Koizumi's visits to the war-related Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, which honors Japan's Class A war criminal along with war dead, for three years in a quarrel since he became premier.

Koizumi's visits of the shrine have provok anger among countries as it was as China and South Korea where memories of Japanese military aggressions before and during World War II are still fresh

Monday's talks with Yamasaki, Tetsuzo Fuyushiba of the fresh Komeito party and Toshihiro Nikai of the modern Conservative Party at the Great Hall of the populace in the Chinese capital marked Hu's first meeting with Japanese ruling party politicians since taking the leadership post

''Your visit here during a difficult time when China is fighting with stiff acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) exhibits you place importance forward relations with China,'' Hu said at the commencement of the meeting. ''Bilateral relations will expand further.''

Earlier onward Monday, the secretaries general met with Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing, Vice Premier Huang Ju and Chinese Communist Party International Liaison Department chief Wang Jiarui.

They are scheduled to befitting with Tang Jiaxuan, state councilor in charge of foreign affairs, upon Monday evening before returning to Japan Tuesday.

Leaders of the opposition camp, namely Democratic Party of Japan President Naoto Kan and Social Democratic Party head Takako Doi, have already visited China and held talks with Hu in April.

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