Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan said here Saturday that bilateral trade between China and Japan has recovered and exceeded the level before the financial crisis.

Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan (R) shakes hands with Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 28, 2010. Wang Qishan and Katsuya Okada co-chaired the third China-Japan high-level economic dialogue here Saturday. [Xinhua/Rao Aimin]

Wang made the remarks at the opening of the third China-Japan high-level economic dialogue, which he chaired with Japanese Foreign Minister Okada Katsuya.

At the dialogue, the two sides will hold discussions on promoting the economic recovery and bilateral cooperation as well as cooperation at the regional and global level.

The two economies are highly interdependent, said Wang, adding mutual benefit and win-win cooperation were at the core of Sino-Japanese economic relations.

The two countries had maintained sound cooperation in energy-saving, environment protection, food safety, product quality and the construction of China-Japan-ROK Free Trade Area, he said.

It was the first economic dialogue held between Japan and China since the Democratic Party of Japan took office, said Katsuya.

After 30 years of development, China has become Japan's largest export market and the preferred overseas investment destination for Japanese manufacturing for 21 consecutive years.

China is undergoing rapid industrialization and urbanization and has huge market potential, said Wang.

He said China would firmly stick to the policy of opening up and create a good environment for foreign-owned enterprises.

Increasing mutual understanding and trust are the preconditions of bilateral cooperation, Wang said, adding the dialogue showed the increasing maturity of the Sino-Japanese economic relations.

The dialogue, jointly launched by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, was first convened in 2007 in Beijing and the second meeting was held in 2009 in Tokyo.