China-Japan Ties Should be Handled with Vision: Wu

Home>>World

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, September 06, 2003

China-Japan Ties Should be Handled with Vision: Wu

Top Chinese legislator Wu Bangguo said on Friday that both China and Japan should handle bilateral relations with vision and put them in a strategic perspective.

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

Top Chinese legislator Wu Bangguo said on Friday that both China and Japan should handle bilateral relations with vision and put them in a strategic perspective.

"Past experiences have proved that Sino-Japanese relations would proceed smoothly when the principles and spirit of the threeimportant documents were followed; otherwise, they would experience ups and downs," said Wu, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China. He was speaking at a ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of the China-Japan Peace and Friendship Treaty.

The three important documents refer to a 1972 joint statement and a 1998 joint declaration, as well as the peace and friendship treaty, signed on August 12, 1978.

"The new Chinese leadership will, as always, commit itself to the development of friendship with Japan. We appreciate and hope Japan will stick to its pacifist constitution and stick to a path of peace," said Wu, who is on a week-long visit to Japan.

"The conclusion of the China-Japan Peace and Friendship Treaty is an epoch-making event," said Wu, "It constituted the legal basis for peaceful coexistence and friendship between the two countries; built a bridge for exchange and cooperation between thetwo governments and peoples, and manifested our common aspiration to maintain the friendship from generation to generation."

The treaty was the result of wisdom and farsightedness of both countries' statesmen, and the two peoples had also made unremitting efforts to bring it about, he added.

Wu asked the 25th anniversary of the treaty to be used as a newstarting point in bilateral relations. "Let us properly address the problems between us, expand common ground, build on mutual trust ... and work for cooperation for the benefit of the two peoples under the spirit of the three documents and the principle of 'having our eyes on the future while using history as a mirror'," Wu said at the ceremony.

Wu noted that China and Japan, as neighbors, have a long history of exchanges and friendship.

Since the normalization of relations, especially the conclusionof the peace treaty in 1978, friendly cooperation between China and Japan has been developed in an all-round manner, said Wu.

Last year, bilateral trade exceeded 100 billion US dollars; 3.68 million people visited each other's countries, and sister cities in the two country have totaled 220 pairs, he said. Good Sino-Japanese relations not only benefited the two peoples, but also contributed to world peace and development.

As the last leg of his Asian tour, Wu arrived in Japan on Thursday for an official visit. He had visited the Philippines andSouth Korea.

Questions?Comments? Click here

Sino-Japanese Relations Key to Regional Stability: Wu

Who's Going to Close "the Gate of Hell"? ( 10 Messages)

Why Japanese PM Proposes Amending Constitution Now ( 37 Messages)

China Seeking to Ease RMB Revaluation Pressure ( 3 Messages)