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Japanese could be able to travel to China visa-free on short-stay visits under a proposal to be discussed early next week. China's Foreign Ministry confirmed Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing would discuss the issue on his four-day visit to Japan that starts on Sunday.

"We are willing to work with the Japanese to further facilitate exchange sand to promote people-to-people contact between our two countries," said a Foreign Ministry official

For years, Japanese have been the single biggest group of foreign tourists to China, making up about a fifth of all international tourists. In 2002, 2.9 million Japanese tourists visited China, up 23 percent from 2001 and hitting a record high, official figures show.

Japanese Embassy sources in Beijing said the new visa exemption programme may allow Japanese to stay for a maximum of 15 days in China without visas.

China has already issued similar visa exemptions to tourists from Singapore and Brunei.

Over the years, China has gradually loosened the restrictions on Japanese visiting China, simplified the procedure for applying for visas and provided long-term multi-entry visas for some Japanese.

"These measures have increased friendly exchanges between the Chinese and Japanese people and helped promote China's economic development and opening," said the Foreign Ministry official.

The negotiations with Japan over visa exemptions coincide with the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Sino-Japanese Peace and Friendship Treaty.

They are regarded as a latest measure by the Chinese Government to revive the nation's tourism industry that was badly hit by the SARS outbreak in spring. Statistics show foreign tourist arrivals dropped by half year-on-year in the first half of this year.

Between April and June, the number of Japanese tourists who visited China plunged by more than 90 percent over the same period last year.

Participants at a Sino-Japanese seminar on tourism held last Saturday agreed Japan will soon regain its position as China's largest source of foreign tourists. But they also noted that more is needed to be done in terms of business promotion to guarantee an early recovery.