Japanese and Chinese leaders pledge warmer ties

Koizumi strained ties repeatedly with Beijing by visiting the Yasukuni Shrine, which many see as a symbol of Japan's militarist past, during his tenure in office from 2001-2006.

Hu also got a thumbs down from a right-leaning alumni association of Waseda University, where he was to speak later Thursday.

In a statement signed by several dozen alumni, Hu was called "the chief executive of oppression over the right to ethnic self-determination and human rights of the Tibetans." The letter requested Hu's scheduled visit to the university, one of Japan's most prestigious, be called off.

Despite such bumps, Hu's five-day visit to Japan has been designed to stress good ties and cooperation between Asia's two giants. Hu arrived Tuesday, becoming the first Chinese president to visit Tokyo in 10 years.

On Wednesday, Hu and Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda met for a meticulously choreographed summit to fortify a rapprochement launched immediately after Koizumi left office in 2006 with relations at their lowest point since World War II.

The two pledged to work together on everything from climate change to North Korea and territorial disputes, and Fukuda hinted -without elaborating -that the neighbors were on the verge of settling a spat over maritime gas deposits.

They also announced Tokyo and Beijing would hold annual summits, a step to prevent a recurrence of the decade-long gap in visits to Japan by Chinese presidents since Jiang Zemin's rocky trip to Tokyo in 1998.

"I hope this will be a year of progress in Sino-Japanese ties that will define the bilateral relationship far into the future," Fukuda said at the opening of the summit.

Hu seconded that in a joint news conference afterward.