He said China would adhere to its good neighbourly foreign policy and would not pose a threat or challenge to any country.

"China's national defence policy is completely defensive in nature and is aimed at safeguarding its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

"China has not, and will never, seek hegemony," he said, rejecting the "China threat" theory as totally groundless.

Ryutaro Hashimoto and other heads of the Japanese organizations expressed appreciation for the meeting and vowed to continue to play an important role in promoting exchanges.

The seven Japanese organizations are: the Japanese Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Association of Dietmen League for Japan-China Friendship, Japan-China Friendship Association, Japan-China Cultural Exchange Association, Japan-China Association on Economy and Trade, Japan-China Society, and Japan-China Friendship Centre.

In another development, China on Friday lodged a strong protest against Japan's latest revision of a batch of new senior middle school textbooks regarding the Diaoyu Islands.

A Foreign Ministry official in charge of Asian affairs summoned the ambassador of the Japanese Embassy in Beijing to protest against the revision, which claimed the Diaoyu Islands were Japanese territory.

"The Diaoyu Islands have been Chinese territory since ancient times. China holds indisputable legal evidence of ownership," he said.

Japan completed its annual review of school textbooks on Wednesday after ordering publishers to state clearly Tokyo's claim to certain territories, including the Diaoyu Islands.

The official said the Japanese move constituted an obvious infringement upon China's territorial sovereignty.

"Any unilateral action by the Japanese side is illegal and invalid," the official said.

He asked Japan to promptly correct the erroneous decision and actions.

Xinhua contributed to the story

(China Daily 04/01/2006 page1)