Premier Wen Jiabao sent a congratulatory message yesterday to Yukio Hatoyama.

"As each other's important neighbor, efforts to deepen the mutual trust and cooperation between China and Japan are in keeping with the fundamental interests of both nations and their peoples," Wen said.

He expressed hope that Japan and China will work together to push for fresh development of their Strategic Relations of Mutual Benefit ties, starting from a new historic threshold.