China naval ship making Japan port call

A Chinese naval ship left Wednesday for a port call to Japan for the first time since World War II in a further sign of easing in the Asian neighbors' often tense relations.

The guided missile destroyer Shenzhen departed from its base in the southern port of Zhanjiang and was scheduled to arrive in Japan next Wednesday for a four-day visit, the Chinese government's Xinhua News Agency reported.

The port call is the first ever to Japan by the People's Liberation Army naval forces and is supposed to be reciprocated by Japan's navy under plans agreed to by the countries' defense ministers in August. They come amid a warming trend in relations that have been strained by disputes over territory, oil resources and rivalry for influence between a rapidly emerging China and a Japan that has been the region's dominant economic power.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda on the sidelines of a Southeast Asian summit in Singapore on Tuesday that relations were "at a historical stage of development and a very important turning point."

The Chinese naval ship's first stop will be in Tokyo where Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force will hold a ceremony, according to the Japanese Defense Ministry. The Shenzhen's crew is also scheduled to visit Japan's naval headquarters in Tokyo, and then the ship will make a call at Yokosuka, a port at the entrance to Tokyo Bay which also has the largest U.S. naval base outside the United States.

China's Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a telephoned request for comment nor did the Chinese Defense Ministry, which asked that questions be sent via fax.

Military relations between China and Japan are a sensitive issue. Japan's brutal invasion and occupation of much of China in the 1930s and '40s have left a legacy of bitterness, one that the communist government in Beijing has occasionally stoked to cater to a nationalist public.

Japanese officials have said the Shenzhen will be the first Chinese warship in Japan since World War II. Xinhua said it was the first to visit Japan in the history of the People's Liberation Army, which celebrated its 80th anniversary this year.

Though relations have gotten better, Japanese officials have also expressed concerns about China's surging military spending in recent years, calling for more transparency.