Chinese President Hu Jintao (C) meets with the Japanese youth delegation at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, June 19, 2007.(Xinhua Photo)

Chinese President Hu Jintao on Tuesday hosted a banquet in the Great Hall of the People for a Japanese delegation, urging young people from China and Japan to enrich their friendship.

"Younger generations are the future of a lasting friendship between China and Japan. They should promote bilateral ties, learn from each other, talk to each other and trust each other so that friendship and positive actions flower," Hu said.

"I believe the future of China and Japan will be positive and the torch of friendship will be handed down from one generation to the next," Hu said.

The 200-odd member delegation is composed of representatives and the children of participants who attended a grand gathering in1984, as well as several Japanese diet men and staff from friendship organizations.

In the fall of 1984, 3,000 Japanese young people visited China at the invitation of Hu Yaobang, then general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.

They got together with about 1 million Chinese youth from all walks of life, and celebrated the 12th anniversary of the normalization of China-Japan relations.

It was the largest foreign group China had received since 1949. The event was described as unprecedented in the history of bilateral friendship.

"Twenty-three years ago, we organized friendly activities and get-togethers between Chinese and Japanese young people. Since then the delegates have played an active role in promoting friendship between China and Japan," Hu said.

During the banquet, young people from both countries enjoyed acrobatics, traditional folk songs and exchanged gifts.

As the day marked the Chinese traditional Duanwu Festival, or Dragon Boat Festival, delegates were offered "zongzi", a type of sticky rice dumpling that is traditionally eaten on this day.

Yasuhiro Nakasone, former Japanese prime minister who led the current 200-odd member delegation, also made a warm speech at the banquet, saying friendship and cooperation between Japan and China is "the basis of both development and prosperity in Asia and even peace in the world."

"Let's make joint efforts to carry on the Japan-China friendship from generation to generation," Nakasone said.

The delegation's visit to China from June 14 to 20 is also part of the activities celebrating the 2007 China-Japan Culture and Sports Year.

Editor: Yan