Sino-Japanese relations still face daunting challenges ahead, a leading Japan expert said in an article in China Youth Daily. Excerpts follow:

While China has sent a clear signal to Japan about its intention to improve relations, which was underlined by Chinese Ambassador Wang Yi's remarks on October 18, Japan, however, has failed to make reciprocal moves.

Instead, it has made blunder after blunder in its views towards its own history, a fact that was validated by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's recent comments about the Yasukuni Shrine and the visit to the shrine by 78 lawmakers.

Such acts have seriously shocked the political foundation on which Sino-Japanese relations are built, erecting hurdles to better bilateral ties, said Jin Xide, a senior research fellow at the Institute of Japan Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Clearly, Japan should shoulder all the responsibility for the politically cold relations.

History is the major obstacle in Sino-Japanese relations.

Japan's failure to correctly face its aggression history and the affliction it made to the Chinese people during that time has again and again rocked bilateral relations.

In addition, the voices that favour adopting a correct view of history among the current political setup in Japan is being subdued as the new breed of Japanese politicians become more conservative.

The expert pointed out that despite the fact that the challenges faced by bilateral ties are not easy to resolve, the outlook would not always be grim.

Besides strengthening the country, China should also actively promote economic ties and people-to-people exchanges with Japan.

In this way, it could, together with its Japanese friends, push forward bilateral relations in a manner dubbed "pushing official relations through non-governmental contacts."

Moreover, such exchanges will help foster a mechanism in Japan in which its citizens will correctly review their own history.