China hopes that Japan's ruling parties can take positive measures and bring bilateral ties back on the right track, a senior Communist Party of China (CPC) official said Thursday.

Wang Jiarui, head of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, made the comment when meeting with Natsuo Yamaguchi, leader of the New Komeito party, the smaller of Japan's two ruling parties, in Beijing.

The Liberal Democratic Party is the other ruling party.

Wang appreciates contributions the New Komeito party has made to the development of China-Japan relations, noting that strengthening the two countries' mutually strategic relations under the principles of the four political documents between the two sides is in line with the fundamental interests of the two peoples.

Yamaguchi said the New Komeito party is willing to help improve bilateral relations through friendly exchanges with the CPC.

Yamaguchi is the first senior member of the Japanese ruling bloc to travel to Beijing since the Japanese government announced in September that it would "purchase" part of the Diaoyu Islands, a move that contributed to the disintegration of bilateral ties.