Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing is scheduled to visit Japan on Thursday in an effort to promote bilateral ties, the Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

Li will hold talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Foreign Minister Taro Aso  on issues of common concern, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Jiang Yu said at a regular news conference.

Li's visit is expected to pave the way for Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's official visit to Japan in April.

"Wen's visit will provide an important opportunity for the Japanese public to get to know the Chinese premier, and they are very interested in that," said Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Noriyuki Shikata, who is in Beijing to serve as the spokesman for the Japanese delegation to the ongoing Six-Party Talks.

Li's trip to Japan came on the heels of his four-day visit to India began last Sunday.

The two Asian giants have been at odds over a slew of historical issues, including the number of deaths of Nanjing Massacre, the historical books issue and Japan's atrocities committed during 1931-1945.

China said 300,000 were killed during the Massacre while Japan insisted that only tens of thousands were dead.

The bilateral ties reached its lowest point in 2006 because of former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's repeated visits to a shrine that honors 14 war criminals along with 2.47 million died in World War Two.

China regards the shrine as a symbol of past militarism.

Relations show signs of melting after Abe Shinzo succeeded to be the Prime Minister, who has vowed to improve ties with China.

This year is the 35th anniversary of the normalization of ties between the two countries.