Speaker Kono Yohei of Japan's House of Representatives paid an official visit to China on September 20 at the invitation of Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) of China. Mr. Kono Yohei is an experienced statesman in Japan's political world, in his early years he graduated from the Political Economics Department of Waseda University, later he went in for advanced study in America's Stanford University, and served as board chairman of a bakery company. Since he stepped into the political circles in 1967, he had served as chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party, vice-prime minister and foreign minister. Mr. Yohei accepted PD correspondent Yu Qing's exclusive interview at a Beijing hotel where he stayed.

Correspondent: According to schedule, Prime Minister Koizumi will deliver a speech at the General Assembly of the United Nations on September 21. Chinese media follow this with concern, because his speech will touch on Japan's future targets and development trends. As a senior Japanese statesman, please say something about your views on Japan's future development.

Yohei: Japan is a country based on the idea of democracy and liberalism. In my personal opinion, Japan is to be built into a society where the younger generation can give full play to their talents; Japan is a country with a huge ageing population, the aged people are enabled to make contributions in their remaining years and feel they are living a happy life; everybody is given job opportunities and enjoying full social welfare.

As it is living in the international community, Japan should better merge itself into this community. For this it should treat the religion, nationality, history, culture, etc. of various countries with lenience and respect. In terms of diplomacy, over the past half century after WWII, Japan has always attached importance to Japan-US relations. We should also pay attention to relations with China, the ROK and other Asian neighbors, as well as to relations with Europe. From the perspectives of religion and nationality, Japan should also pay attention to relations with Islamic countries. As we know, China has a population of about 1.3 billion, the total population of Islamic countries also comes to as many as 1.3 billion. To put it briefly, Japan should continue its efforts for multi-diplomacy.

Correspondent: It is widely known that constitutional revision has become one of the hot topics in Japan's political life. As chief of Japan's legislature, will the constitution be revised during your term as the speaker and what procedures are still needed to go through? What's your opinion on the revision of constitution, especially on Article 9 of the constitution?

Yohei: I don't know how long my term of service will go, naturally it's impossible for me to know whether constitutional revision will be realized during my term of office. According to articles on the revision of constitution as contained in Japan's Constitution, constitutional revision must have the approval from two-thirds of the Diet members and the endorsement of over half of votes from the nationals. So constitutional revision cannot be realized at one stroke in an oversimplified way. A poll shows that over half of those surveyed favored revision of the constitution. As to where and how the constitution should be revised, the matter is under discussion, so the prospect is still unknown. With regard to constitutional revision, a topic under discussion, as speaker of the House of Representatives, it is inconvenient for me to express my views.

Correspondent: This year is the centenary of the birth of Deng Xiaoping. In a meeting with you during his visit to Japan in October 1978, Deng immediately remembered your name the moment he saw you. Can you recall something about the sight at that time?

Yohei: In that meeting with Deng Xiaoping, I was present there in the capacity as Party chief of an opposition party's new freedom club. In 1977 Deng Xiaoping received me in Beijing. Therefore at the moment when he saw me in Japan he said, "Do you still remember our talks when we met in Beijing? For the sake of Sino-Japan friendship, we need peace in the Pacific, that's why I keep your name firmly in my mind. Pacific peace is my greatest hope." In my impression, Deng is an open-minded and talkative person. Later when I was in Shenzhen I saw there was a huge portrait of Deng Xiaoping at a crossing. When I recall the scene in Shenzhen where there were farmlands everywhere and the croaks of frogs filled the ears in the 1970s and now as I see the tremendous changes taken place in this same city, I have the intimate perception of Deng's position in the hearts of the Chinese people.

Correspondent: There is now a popular remark called "cool politics and hot economy" used in evaluating current Sino-Japan relations. Mr. Yohei, what's your view on the current Sino-Japan relations and the further development of such ties?

Yohei: Whether Japan and China can realize genuine cooperation or not is receiving concern from the international community. In terms of economic and trade relations, trade between Japan and China this year or next year will surpass that between Japan and the United States to become the largest trading partners. In terms of personnel exchange, Japan and China have an exchange of personnel of over 3 million by turnstile count annually, averaging 10,000 persons/times a day, this is a terrific number. It is my basic view that Japan and China should realize genuine mutual understanding and close cooperation. But presently things go contrary to my wishes, the political relationship between the two countries is not as mature as economic ties, misunderstandings exist between the nationals of the two countries, This is really regrettable, it is also a question which statesmen of our two countries must jointly face up to and consider. In my opinion, working together is more important than watching each other, i.e., for the international community and for peace and prosperity of this region, Japan and China should join hands in cooperation for a common cause. In the course of cooperation, the two sides should jointly face challenges and jointly share risks; they should enhance understanding and promote relations of friendly cooperation in the course of working together. Nationals of both China and Japan are intelligent and kindhearted and both hope for peace and do not hope for antagonism. So long as the 1.4 billion nationals of Japan and China choose harmony and not antagonism with their reason and wisdom and through dialogs, I believe that in the not distant future, an Asia of peace, stability and prosperity will definitely win the admiration of the whole world.

The text of the above interview is published on page 3 of People's Daily September 22, 2004 and translated by People's Daily Online