Stronger Japan ties, but with riders

Zhao Qizheng (center), director of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, chats with Xia Deren (left), Party secretary of Dalian CPC Municipal Committee, Kozo Watanabe (second from left), senior consultant of the Democratic Party of Japan, Shinji Fukukawa (second from right), chairman of Machine Industry Memorial Foundation, and Wu Jianmin (right), honorary president of the Bureau of International Exhibitions at the welcome banquet hosted by China Daily for Beijing-Tokyo Forum (Dalian) last night in Dalian. Zhang Wei