(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-08-19 17:19

BEIJING -- More and more Chinese and Japanese have positive views on relations between the two countries with the improvement in bilateral ties, according to a joint survey by the two sides.

On the status quo of Sino-Japanese relations, the number of Chinese university students who regard bilateral relationship as "good" or "fairly good" is 5.3 percentage points higher than last year, and the increase in Chinese citizens polled is 14.5 percentage points more.

Among Japanese intellectuals investigated, the figure rose by 11.7 percentage points, according to the survey, jointly conducted by China's Peking University and the Japanese think tank Genron NPO in May. The result of it was released on Friday.

The survey, an annual event the two sides launched in 2005, was held simultaneously in China and Japan.

This year's survey covered 3,000 Chinese, including 2,000 residents of Shanghai, Beijing, Xi'an, Chengdu and Shenyang and 1,000 university students in five Chinese prestigious universities including Peking University and Tsinghua University. In Japan, 1,300 Japanese were surveyed, including 1,000 citizens and 300 intellectuals.

More than 60 percent of the Chinese and Japanese polled say they think the other country is important to the development of their own country, and more than half of them hold there is room for the two countries to cooperate in energy and economic fields.

On the future bilateral ties, 65.9 percent Chinese students and 73.1 percent Chinese citizens said they are "optimistic" or "fairly optimistic, while in Japan, 40.9 percent of the citizens believe the future relations between China and Japan will improve.

On the Chinese side, more than 76 percent students and 78.3 percent citizens said people-to-people contacts between the two countries are "fairly important" or "very important"; on the Japanese side, 63.3 percent citizens and 98 percent intellectuals said people-to-people exchanges in education, arts and tourism are "important" or "fairly important" for improvement in China-Japan ties.

According to the survey, the number of Chinese students and residents who have a "good" or "fairly good" impression of Japan increased by 27.5 and 10 percentage points, respectively, from last year.

In Japan, the number of intellectuals and citizens who said their impression of China has "greatly improved" or "slightly improved" grew by 10.2 and 18.2 percentage points, respectively.