At present, Sino-Japanese relations are at a very delicate stage.

Sino-Japanese relations have been deadlocked for more than two years, and when exchanges between high-level leaderships are interrupted, cooperation in many important fields is affected, and the mutual understanding between the public on both sides plummets. Nevertheless, a public opinion poll has indicated that the majority of people in both countries believe that Sino-Japanese relations are of great significance to both.

In early November, China and Japan reached consensus on four principles relating to the handling and improvement of Sino-Japanese relations. Subsequently, President Xi Jinping met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe while he was attending the APEC Informal Leaders' Meeting in China. Would bilateral relations return to a normal track of improvement and development as a result?

Abe expressed the view at the meeting that Japan is willing to implement the consensus, address the relevant issues seriously, and promote the improvement and development of strategic relations of mutual benefit to the two countries. He also emphasized to the media after the meeting: "I regard it as the first step for Japan and China to return to the roots of a strategic and mutually beneficial relationship and for Sino-Japanese-relations to move towards improvement."

Shortly after Abe's declaration, Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and the Japanese Cabinet appeared to reach a different interpretation of the agreement. The statement approved by the Cabinet on the issues of the Diaoyu Islands and Yasukuni Shrine, does not seem to have directly or openly denied the four-principled consensus, but the words and the tone have inevitably raised doubts about the sincerity of Japan's intentions with regard to implementation. Japan's official statement is an attempt to dilute the impact of the agreement on Japan, suggesting that it may persist in its erroneous position.

If Abe's government sincerely wants to improve relations with China, it needs to emphasize to the Japanese people the significance of Sino-Japanese relations, explain the meaning of implementing the four-principle consensus, and take practical steps to turn around relations with China, rather than going out of its way to avoid or even distort the spirit of the consensus.

China has acted in the spirit of agreeing to disagree, which reconfirms the direction and defines the roadmap for the development of bilateral relations in a language acceptable to both. They aim to create significant conditions for improving the Sino-Japanese relationship.

China has adopted an attitude of "watching while listening" towards Abe's government, which on the one hand indicates the sincerity of China's expectations that the relationship will improve, while on the other hand highlighting its vigilance against Japanese insincerity. An individual should act with integrity, and so should a country. "Be sincere to your own heart and trustworthy to others", as a part of Confucian culture, should be obvious to Japan.

If Japan "relapses" and breaks its promises on the Diaoyu Islands and other such historical issues, there will be no prospects of improving Sino-Japanese relations, while Japan will return to a road which will only result in its being marginalized.

If the China-Japan four-principle consensus is to be implemented, Japan needs to take heed of two words: integrity and prudence.

The article is edited and translated from《送安培政府四个字：诚信 审慎》, source: People's Daily Overseas Edition, Author: Jia Xiudong (Specially-appointed Researcher of China Institute of International Issues) 

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