Ruling party LDP Secretary-General Moriyama Hiroshi met with chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress Zhao Leji on April 29.

Moriyama, who is currently visiting China, met with Zhao, who is the third-ranking member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.

At the meeting, Moriyama appealed to Zhao on behalf of the Japanese public regarding the decision to return 4 giant pandas bred in captivity in Wakayama Prefecture to China.

He asked the chairman for new pandas to be loaned to Japan as well.

Zhao replied that pandas are a link of friendship between China and Japan, and that he would make sure those in charge would keep in touch, but didn’t promise anything further.