BEIJING, Dec 29: Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda enjoyed a round of baseball diplomacy with his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao on Saturday, one day after the leaders pledged to build on their rapidly warming ties.

Fukuda and Wen smiled in front of the cameras while playing catch with a baseball following a breakfast meeting on the third day of the Japanese leader’s landmark visit to China.

Fukuda held talks with Wen and President Hu Jintao on Friday to lay the groundwork for closer cooperation between the nations in trade, climate change and other fields, but a dispute over maritime gas fields remained unresolved.

“I have asked Prime Minister Wen to play catch with me,” Japanese officials quoted Fukuda as telling Wen during a Friday meeting.

“I’m glad to play with you whenever,” Wen replied, prompting laughter by diplomats of the two countries.

The five-minute catch session in a Beijing gymnasium included several dropped balls on Fukuda’s part. A young Chinese baseball player was also drafted in to throw the ball around with the two leaders.

Wen sported the same Japanese university baseball uniform he wore when he wowed the Japanese public with his throwing skills in Tokyo in April. Fukuda wore a white shirt and a red cap.

Fukuda is on a four-day visit aimed at deepening ties between the two Asian giants, which have long been wracked over Japan’s World War II invasion of China.

In Friday talks, the two nations agreed to continue to negotiate a territorial dispute over lucrative gas fields in the East China Sea and raise discussions to vice-ministerial level in order to bring a “quick” solution.

Prior to his trip, Fukuda had expressed hopes that the resolution of the dispute could be reached during the visit.

Eleven rounds of negotiations on the gas fields since 2004 have made little progress, with China rejecting the maritime border that Japan considers a starting point for discussions.

After departing Beijing on Saturday, Fukuda visited the eastern city of Tianjin before a trip to the ancestral home of ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius, in Qufu city in Shandong province.

In Tianjin, Fukuda was to inspect Japanese investments, including a Toyota Motor Corp. plant, following a lunch with the city’s Communist Party boss Zhang Gaoli.—AFP