Japan Urged to Heed Seriously to China's StandChina has once again expounded its principled stand on issues concerning the Sino-Japanese relations and urged the Japanese side to heed seriously to China's stand, abide by the solemn statements it has made so far and act with caution.Issues concerning the history textbook and Taiwan are crucial to Sino-Japanese relations, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao at Tuesday's press conference in response to a question about the talks last week between Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan and his Japanese counterpart Makiko Tanaka during the ASEM (Asia-Europe Meeting) Foreign Minister's Meeting. Describing the talks as "positive", Zhu said that Both sides have further expounded their respective stances on issues concerning the history textbook, Lee Tenghui's visit to Japan and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's claim to visit the Yasukuni Shrine. These issues have always been sensitive and are of great significance to the future development of Sino-Japanese relations, he noted. Reiterating China's stance on Koizumi's vow to pay homage to the Yasukuni Shrine, Zhu said that as a symbol of Japan's military aggression before and during World War II, the shrine still houses the memorial tablets of Japanese Class-A war criminals. "The issue is in essence an issue of how the Japanese government and the Japanese leaders view and deal with the history of aggression committed by Japanese militarists in the past", he said. China will take corresponding measures to deal with the development of the situation, Zhu stated. |
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