A Chinese naval destroyer on Wednesday left for a landmark visit to Japan that the government said was aimed at promoting trust between the two nations, reported dpa. State media showed photographs of the "Shenzhen" setting sail from the southern port of Zhanjiang in Guangdong province for the first visit to Japan by a warship from the People's Liberation Army (PLA). The missile destroyer is armed with cannons, missiles and helicopters, and is carrying 345 officers and crew for a four-day visit to Japan, reports said. It is scheduled to arrive in Japan on November 28 for a series of military exchanges, public visits to the ship, and joint performances by Chinese and Japanese military bands in Tokyo. Led by Rear Admiral Xiao Xinnian, vice chief of staff of the PLA's South China Sea Fleet, the visit is an "important activity" marking this year's 35th anniversary of formal diplomatic ties between China and Japan, the government's Xinhua news agency quoted a foreign ministry official as saying. The ship's voyage began one day after Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told his Japanese counterpart, Yasuo Fukuda, that the two nations' once-cold bilateral relations had entered a new era. "China-Japan relations are at a significant stage of development and an important turning point," the foreign ministry quoted Wen as saying during his meeting with Fukuda in Singapore on Tuesday. Fukuda agreed to visit China late this year or early next year, the ministry said. Diplomatic relations between China and Japan have improved since a visit to Beijing last October by Fukuda's predecessor, Shinzo Abe.
