Senior diplomat urges improvement of China-Japan relations

BEIJING, Oct. 26 -- A senior Chinese diplomat on Saturday called on China and Japan to make joint efforts to put bilateral relations back on track.

Addressing the 9th annual Beijing-Tokyo Forum, Tang Jiaxuan, head of the China-Japan Friendship Association and a former state councilor, said that the China-Japan relationship is facing a grim situation because of "well-known reasons."

He called on the two sides to review and reconfirm the spirit of four important political documents between China and Japan so as to keep bilateral relations headed in the right direction and properly handle the current problems.

The four documents Tang referred to include the China-Japan Joint Statement inked in 1972, the China-Japan Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1978, the China-Japan Joint Declaration of 1998 and a joint statement on advancing strategic and mutually beneficial relations signed in 2008.

Tang said the spirit of the four documents includes learning from history, peaceful coexistence, mutual respect, friendship for generations, mutually beneficial cooperation and common development.

He stressed that the only correct choice for both sides is to adhere to the way of peace, friendship, cooperation, mutual benefit and "win-win" principles.

Tang urged the two sides to face up to history, rebuild mutual trust and seek common ground for cooperation in order to put bilateral ties back on a normal track.

The forum, jointly organized by China's biggest English newspaper, the China Daily, and Genron NPO, a Japanese think tank, drew some 400 participants from the two countries as they conducted dialogue on various topics.

Cai Mingzhao, director of China's State Council Information Office, said at the forum that he expects news media of the two countries to further promote mutual understanding between the two peoples as well as improvement and long-term development of bilateral relations.