During the meeting, China's Li Zhaoxing aired Beijing's misgivings about visits by the Japanese prime minister to a controversial Tokyo war shrine, Wang Donghua told reporters.

Li and his Japanese counterpart Taro Aso, meeting on the sidelines of the Asia Cooperation Dialogue in Doha, agreed that the two Asian powers "should strengthen the strategic dialogue between them and work together to remove the political obstacle to their relations," the spokesman added.

They concurred that Beijing and Tokyo should "deepen" economic and trade links, explore the possibility of "cooperation on energy conservation and environmental protection" and "expand their common interests and... friendly exchanges between their two peoples," he said.

Wang said agreement was also reached on continuing to "conduct a security dialogue at the level of vice foreign ministers as well as military-to-military exchanges to increase mutual trust."

"Nice to see you again," Aso said to Li as the two shook hands, then appeared to chat and joke with one another before going into a closed door meeting which lasted one and a half hours.

China halted high-level bilateral talks because of visits by Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to the Yasukuni shrine, an issue raised by Li during the talks.

"The repeated visits by the Japanese leader to the Yasukuni shrine, which commemorates class-A criminals of World War II, seriously offend the sentiments of the Chinese people and violate the political foundation of bilateral relations," Li told Aso, according to the Chinese spokesman.

"An early removal of such a political obstacle to bilateral relations is a pressing task for the improvement" of ties, Wang quoted Li as adding.

Li himself only said that the talks "covered a vast range of issues" and there was no immediate comment from the Japanese side on the meeting.

But according to the Chinese spokesman, Aso underlined Tokyo's desire to develop friendly relations "on the basis of the principles enshrined in the three political documents between the two countries."

On Taiwan, Aso said that the Japanese government "would continue to honor the one-China principle," Wang reported.

Asked whether the two foreign ministers would meet again, he said this would be determined "through diplomatic channels".

China and Japan are divided not just by history but also by a heated row over lucrative gas and oil fields in the East China Sea. The two nations failed to make a breakthrough in new talks on the issue earlier this month.

"The two sides covered a range of issues and their discussions were extensive," was all the Chinese spokesman would say when asked if any headway had been made on the disputed energy reserves.

Li last met Aso's predecessor Nobutaka Machimura on the sidelines of a gathering of foreign ministers from Asia and Europe in Kyoto in early May last year.

China called off all top-level talks with Japan after Koizumi made his latest visit to the Yasukuni shrine last October.

From China's perspective the shrine honors 2.5 million Japanese war dead and 14 top war criminals. Koizumi's visits there are seen by Beijing to be the greatest obstacle to an improvement in relations.

China and South Korea, which were both invaded by Japan in the 20th century, consider the shrine a symbol of militarism.

Aso also held a bilateral meeting with his South Korean counterpart, Ban Ki-Moon, in Doha earlier Tuesday.

Another issue that has previously caused tensions is Japan's efforts to get a permanent seat at the UN Security Council alongside China, which has blocked the move.

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