China's Hu heads to Japan seeking trust and respect

By Chris Buckley

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to Japan next week will be about soothing fears, not sealing deals, as Asia's two biggest powers try to look past festering bilateral disputes and tensions over Tibet.

Hu's five-day trip from Tuesday will be his longest state visit to any one country since he became president in 2003, showing how seriously he takes wooing Japan, a key U.S. ally and the world's second-biggest economy, after years of rancor.

It will also be Hu's first outing abroad since anti-Chinese unrest erupted in Tibet in March, stoking international protests against the Beijing Olympics that drew China into rows with Western capitals and ignited Chinese counter-protests.

At this tense time, Hu wants to present his country as a benign power that does not lack Asian friends, said Shi Yinhong, a foreign policy expert at Renmin University in Beijing.

"Hu wants a lasting improvement in relations with Japan to be one of his defining foreign policy achievements," Shi said.

"Neither side wants to return to the old troubles, but getting fully beyond them requires more mutual trust."

Hu and Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda will focus on future cooperation, not Japan's invasion of China before and during World War Two, said a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman.

"President Hu Jintao's visit to Japan has major historic import not only because of issues in history but more importantly because it is a major visit allowing both sides to plan for the future," spokesman Liu Jianchao told Reuters this week.

The two Asian giants have a lot at stake economically in improved ties.

China replaced the United States as Japan's top trade partner last year, with two-way trade totaling $236.6 billion, up 12 percent from 2006. Beijing now wants more Japanese investment and technology, and Japan is hoping to sell more to Chinese consumers as growth in other markets slows.

"China is the key to the stability of the Japanese economy," said Andrew Horvat, a professor at Tokyo Keizai University.

The two leaders hope to issue a document that will "offer a long-term plan for China-Japan relations and formulate some strategic, long-term policies and goals", spokesman Liu said.

Hu will also court Japan with climate change and trade agreements, meetings with business leaders, a speech at a university and tours of regional cities and scenery.

Disputes over rights to East China Sea gas, Beijing's ballooning defense budget, food safety and Tokyo's hopes for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council are also likely to surface. But neither side expects breakthroughs in these areas.

"This visit will symbolize that relations are becoming more normal. It won't solve any substantive issues," said Huang Dahui, an expert on Japan also at Renmin University. "The symbolism of the visit itself will be the main substance."