The Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force destroyer Sazanami sets off from Hiroshima Prefecture for a visit to Zhanjiang, a port city in South China's Guangdong Province, in this picture taken on June 19, 2008.

ZHANJIANG June 24,2008(Agencies)--A Japanese navy destroyer sailed into southern China on Tuesday in the first port call by one of Japan's warships to China since the end of World War II, the latest sign of improving ties between the two economic powers.

The navy vessel with 240 crew members carried blankets, medical supplies and other relief goods for survivors of the devastating May 12 earthquake that killed more than 69,000 people in Southwest China's Sichuan.

The destroyer Sazanami was paying a return visit for a port call made by the Chinese missile destroyer Shenzhen to Tokyo in November 2007, the first visit by a Chinese military vessel to Japan since the war.

The visit comes amid improving ties between the two after a meeting between Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and Chinese President Hu Jintao in early May in Tokyo.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao welcomed the vessel port call.

"This visit will promote exchanges between the defense departments of the two countries and will help ship the assistance materials to the earthquake-hit area in China. This will also help enhance the friendship and mutual trust between the two countries," he told a news conference in Beijing.

"Strengthening our exchanges and cooperation in the field of defense will be supported by the two peoples and I don't think there will be any public anger," he said.

Chinese people are becoming more confident as their country has witnessed three decades of rapid economic growth and many have become more open-minded.

The Sazanami will stay in the southern navy port of Zhanjiang in Guangdong province until June 28.

China and Japan have recently been making efforts to improve relations. They announced an agreement last week to jointly develop gas deposits beneath waters in the East China Sea that are claimed by both sides -- a breakthrough in one of their major disputes.

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