Hu calls for strong China-Japan ties

TOKYO, May 5 (UPI) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao says his five-day trip to Japan this week will focus less on bilateral disputes and more on strengthening overall ties.

Speaking to Japanese journalists in Beijing Sunday, Hu wished for a "warm spring for the friendship between the two peoples," the Xinhua news agency reported. Hu's trip begins Tuesday.

The news agency's report said the trip is seen as a step to further improve the once-chilly Sino-Japanese relationship that started to warm with an "ice-breaking" China visit by former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in October 2006. That was followed by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's visit to Japan last year.

Hu's Japan trip will be the first by a Chinese president in 10 years, Kyodo news service reported.

Hu and Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda were not expected to spend much time on bilateral disputes, including gas exploration rights in the East China Sea and food-poisoning cases triggered by Chinese-made frozen meat dumplings, the report said.