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Japan Urged to Earnestly Handles Textbook Issue
China has once again demanded that the Japanese side deal with the history textbook issue in a serious and earnest manner.
Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi raised the issue to Japanese Ambassador to China Anami Koreshige here Tuesday.
He said China has reaffirmed its solemn stand on the issue on many occasions and through various channels, before and after the Japanese government approved the new history textbook. The acts of the Japanese ultra-rightist forces have triggered off strong protests among all circles of Chinese society, Wang added.
He said the textbook issue is one of principle as it is closely related to the political basis of Sino-Japanese relations and whether Japan would continue its peaceful development.
China has demanded explicitly that Japan take concrete measures to correct the errors in the textbook which distorts historical facts, Wang said.
"Presently, victims from all nations, including China, who suffered from the Japanese militarists' invasion are waiting to see Japan's attitude on the issue. Unless the Japanese government takes a serious attitude and concrete measures to handle the issue properly, it will have a long-term negative effect on Sino- Japanese relations as well as Japan's relations with all other Asian nations and Japan will break its promise to the international community," he said.
Wang stressed that the initiators of the textbook issue are a handful of ultra-rightist forces and the Japanese government cannot shirk its responsibility for this.
"China once again demands that Japan attach due importance to the solemn stand of the Chinese side, take effective measures and give a convincing explanation to the Chinese people," he said.
Koreshige said he attaches great importance to China's stand on the issue, which he has taken note of and he will report to the Japanese government. He said Japan's chief cabinet secretary has expressed Japan's stance on the issue on behalf of the Japanese government, which shows the content of the textbook is inconsistent with the stand of the Japanese government on the historical issue.
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