BEIJING -- Chinese President Hu Jintao on Monday said exchanges between the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the major political parties of Japan, including the New Komeito Party, the minority member of Japan's coalition government, are extremely important.

In a meeting with Akihiro Ota, head of the New Komeito, Hu spoke highly of the New Komeito's long-term friendly policy toward China.

"Party exchanges between China and Japan play a unique role in enhancing friendship between the Chinese and Japanese people and the sound development of state relations," Hu said.

Ota said he was glad to see recent improvement in bilateral ties, calling them remarkable. He hopes the two countries will keep high-level contacts and expand cooperation in various fields to consolidate the current momentum.

The New Komeito Party also believes developing good-neighborly and cooperative relations with China is important, Ota said.

"We will carry out the friendly tradition of bilateral ties and make new efforts to enhance our friendship," Ota said.

China-Japan relations began to warm after Japan's new leader Shinzo Abe's ice-breaking visit to Beijing last October.

This year marks the 35th anniversary of the normalization of bilateral ties.

Hu said he hopes the two sides can seize the opportunity and keep the good momentum going and create new friendly and mutually-beneficial cooperation.