China-Japan financial cooperation moving steadily forward

The finance ministers of China and Japan agreed on Saturday that the Japan-China financial cooperation has been steadily moved forward.

Xie Xuren, Minister of Finance of China, and his Japanese counterpart Jun Azumi pledged to deepen financial cooperation by working with other relevant institutions at the fourth Japan-China finance dialogue in Tokyo.

In March, Japanese government announced that it got the permission from China to purchase 65 billion yuan (about 10.3 billion U.S. dollars) worth of Chinese government bond.

The move marked the first time the Japanese government revealed the specific figure of its permitted allotment of Chinese government bond.

During Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's visit to China last December, the two sides had reached consensus on Japan's purchase of Chinese government bond.

During that visit, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told Noda that China was willing to work with Japan in promoting the direct use of their respective currencies in bilateral trade. Shortly after the Wen-Noda talks, China's central bank announced to encourage the direct use of Chinese currency RMB, or the yuan, and Japanese yen in cross-border transactions between China and Japan.

At Saturday's meeting, the two ministers also exchanged views on the global financial situation. They agreed that the global economy continues gradual growth, but is still confronted with a lot of uncertainties, with the European sovereign debt crisis alleviated to some extent.

The two sides also discussed tax reform and restructuring of social security system. They both underscored the necessity of securing stable revenue sources and sound fiscal conditions.