"When Fukuda comes, Fuku ('fortune' in Japanese and Chinese) has arrived!"
With this humorous remark, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda began his speech at Peking University during his yearend visit to China. Fukuda then offered the audience a new way to look at the Japan-China relationship. He called it a "Creative Partnership."
Beijing responded well, giving him a reception of the highest level and revealing plans for the first visit of a Chinese president to Japan since 1998.