The Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force (JMSDF) destroyer Sazanami arrived at the southern Chinese port of Zhanjiang on 23 June, marking the first visit to China by a Japanese warship since the Second World War. Sazanami- a Takanami-class destroyer commissioned in 2005 - left Kure on 19 June loaded with supplies for the Sichuan earthquake relief effort. The port call at Zhanjiang followed a visit by the Chinese guided missile destroyer Shenzhento Tokyo in November 2007. The exchanges have come amid a warming of ties between China and Japan following the departure in 2006 of former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, whose visits to the Yasukuni war shrine particularly soured relations.
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