Chinese President Hu Jintao met Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama in Washington Monday to exchange views on China-Japan relations and other issues of mutual interest.

The two leaders met on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit slated for Monday and Tuesday.

Hu said he is happy to have the opportunity to meet Hatoyama in Washington, who is an old friend of China and has long been friendly to China.

Hu appreciated Hatoyama's efforts to boost the friendly relations between China and Japan and his contributions in this regard since he took office.

The Chinese leader said he is willing to exchange views with Hatoyama on the development of bilateral ties and issues of common concern.

For his part, Hatoyama said he also feels very happy to meet President Hu again after their last meeting in Singapore last year.

Hatoyama expressed the hope to build a strategic relationship of mutual benefits between Japan and China and enrich it.

China-Japan relations have bright prospects and important development opportunities, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said at a press conference on March 7.

"The two countries should work together to push forward the strategic relationship of mutual benefit. We should jointly increase the strategic input in our bilateral relations and have closer communication and cooperation at the bilateral, regional and global levels," he said.

"We face new opportunities for cooperation in energy, the environment, circular economy and high and new technologies. These are emerging industries of strategic importance, and there is huge potential in our cooperation in these areas," he added.

The Nuclear Security Summit is mainly aimed at preventing acts of nuclear terrorism.

The White House said leaders or their representatives from 47 countries as well as the United Nations, the International Atomic Energy Agency and the European Union would participate in the summit.

(Xinhua News Agency April 12, 2010)