China and Japan pledge to start annual meetings

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.