Faced with mounting common challenges from terrorism, climate change, problems in energy and food security, financial risks, as well as natural disasters, major epidemics and the spread of weapons of mass destruction, the world should join efforts to deal with the threats, Hu said.

China is willing to work with Japan to take an active part in all kinds of international cooperation, enhance the capability to deal with challenges, and push forward the great cause of peace and development of the humanity, he added.

Hu said that standing on the new historic threshold, China-Japan relations are facing new opportunities for further development.

The common interests and cooperative areas of the two countries are expanding and their regional and international responsibility are also increasing amid rapid globalization, said the president.

"We reached broad consensus on the deepening of the strategic and mutually beneficial relations between China and Japan in an all-round way and worked out a framework for the long-term stable and healthy development of the bilateral ties" during talks with Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda on Wednesday, Hu said.

Hu started a state visit to Japan on Tuesday, the first by a Chinese head of state to the country in a decade.

(Xinhua News Agency May 8, 2008)