紧接着

    东京都知事舛添要一宣布本月24日至26日访问北京。请看本报周五的报道：

    Newly elected Tokyo governor Yoichi Masuzoe announced Monday he would visit Beijing next week on a trip that will be closely watched in China and Japan for ways to mend rocky bilateral relations.

    The trip comes on the heels of a visit by Hu Deping — widely seen as a special envoy from Beijing — to Japan, where the “princeling” held a private meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last week.

    The two visits are seen as back-channel efforts by the Asian neighbors to repair ties amid a lack of high-level exchanges since maritime disputes and historical grievances caused the bilateral relationship to plunge to a new low.

    报道中的on the heels of就是“紧跟着、接踵而来”。