On January 16, 2012, Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, met respectively with President of Chile's Chamber of Deputies Patricio Melero Abaroa and Chairman of the Committee on Rules and Administration of the House of Representatives of Japan Kodaira Tadamasa at the Great Hall of the People.

When meeting with Melero, Wu hailed the progress of China-Chile ties since the forging of diplomatic ties and especially since the launching of bilateral all-around cooperative partnership, citing frequent high-level exchanges, and close contacts among governments, parliaments, parties and local governments. The political dialogue committee between the Chinese and Chilean parliaments has helped increase exchanges between both sides. He said the two countries have had fruitful cooperation in such areas as trade, investment, mining, finance and communications, conducted vigorous cultural exchanges and maintained close coordination in global and regional affairs. Bilateral cooperation has made substantial progress in all areas. Calling Chile an important cooperative partner of China in Latin America, Wu said China attaches great importance to its relations with Chile. The NPC is ready to enhance friendly exchanges and frank dialogues with Chile's Chamber of Deputies and Senate, and share experiences in country governance and the building of democratic and legal systems so as to inject new vitality into China-Chile comprehensive cooperative partnership.

Melero said his delegation consists of presidents of major parties of Chile's Chamber of Deputies, which reflects the strong desire of various political parties to cement relations with China. Chile is ready to further exchanges with China among governments, parliaments, political parties and people, and expand pragmatic bilateral cooperation to write a new chapter of Chile-China friendship, he said.

While meeting with Kodaira Tadamasa, Wu hailed the sound momentum of current China-Japan relations. During Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's recent successful visit to China, the leaders of the two countries reached important consensus on boosting bilateral strategic relations of mutual benefit. Wu said the exchanges between China's NPC and the Japanese Diet, an important part of overall ties, have seen rapid increases and have made a positive contribution to sound development of China-Japan relations. Since its founding, the cooperation committee between the NPC and the Japanese Diet has become an effective platform for enhanced bilateral frank dialogues, mutual understanding and pragmatic cooperation, he said. Wu called for joint efforts to improve regular exchange mechanisms. This year marks the 40th anniversary of normalization of China-Japan diplomatic ties and is also "Year of Friendly Exchanges between the Chinese and Japanese People". He hoped both sides will further cement friendly exchanges among governments, parliaments, localities and youth, vigorously carry forward the spirit of the Sino-Japanese friendship and enhance mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples. He also urged both sides to abide by the principles of the four China-Japan political documents to push forward bilateral ties.

In response, Kodaira Tadamasa introduced the outcomes of the seventh meeting of the regular exchange mechanism between the NPC and the House of Representatives of the Japanese Diet. Japan and China are close neighbors separated only by a narrow strip of water and the two peoples have a long history of friendly exchanges. Deepening bilateral relations is in the fundamental interest of the two countries and their peoples and is also conducive to promoting regional and world peace, stability and development. He said that the Japanese side was ready to join hands with China and take the opportunity of the 40th anniversary of normalization of diplomatic ties to further bilateral exchanges and cooperation in various areas and push bilateral ties to a new level. The House of Representatives of the Japanese Diet hopes to make its contribution in this regard, he added.

Vice Chairman and Secretary General Li Jianguo of China's NPC Standing Committee was present at Wu's meeting with Kodaira Tadamasa.