BEIJING, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang confirmed Tuesday that Premier Wen Jiabao is expected to deliver a speech at the Diet of Japan during the upcoming visit.

    "The premier will take the chance to expound China's stance on the improvement and development of Sino-Japanese relations and cooperation between the two countries," Qin told a regular press conference.

    He also confirmed that Wen would visit Kyoto besides Tokyo during his tour.

    "China hopes the visit would establish the content of the mutually beneficial relationship based on common strategic interests, improve the trade cooperation mechanism, educational and cultural exchanges, as well as the youth contact in the long run," Qin said.

    He said China and Japan had already reached consensus on overcoming the political obstacle in the bilateral ties.

    "Properly handling the historical issue is the key factor to improve Sino-Japanese ties," he said.

    He hoped the two sides would stick to the path of "peaceful co-existence, friendship for generations, mutually beneficial cooperation and common development," value the current momentum of improvement and strengthen the friendly cooperation between the two countries.

    On the East China Sea issue, Qin said the different views held by China and Japan would not influence the general development of relationship.

    China advocates the principle of shelving the disputes and making joint exploration, he added.