The China-Japan relations are becoming a hot topic again these days in China as thousands of Chinese took to the streets over the weekend to voice their strong anger over Japan's controversial new history textbooks.

The relations between the two Asian powers are far from inspiring, as they are at odds over Japan's revised school textbooks beautifying Japan's aggression against China and some other Asian countries last century.

Just a week ago, Japan's Education Ministry approved the revised history textbooks which are widely criticized for distorting history and whitewashing its colonial rules and wartime atrocities last century.

The controversial history textbooks immediately sparked strong flames of fury from the Chinese from all walks of life.

On April 5, Qiao Zonghuai, a senior official with the Foreign Ministry, summoned Japanese ambassador to China Koreshige Anami, lodging a solemn representation over the Japanese government's approval of the textbooks denying historical facts and beautifying invasion.

"The textbooks will be vehemently condemned by people, including the Chinese, from all Asian countries being victimized by Japan ," said Qiao, who demanded Japanese government to faithfully honor its serious commitments regarding the issue of history and called for urgent measures being taken to offset the bad impacts.

In Tokyo that afternoon, Chinese ambassador to Japan Wang Yi also made representations to the Japanese government, expounding China's stance on this issue.

Chinese historians criticized Japan's nature of denying historical facts and beautifying invasion as "having remained unchanged", citing the total oblivion or ambiguous narration, in the revised history textbooks, of the notorious Nanjing Massacre in December 1937, when the Japanese troops slaughtered more than 300,000 civilians and unarmed soldiers after taking the then Chinese capital.

Indignation of the Chinese people flared up over the weekend, as thousands of Chinese took to the streets in Beijing to protest Japan's distortion of its wartime past and Tokyo's bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

Protesters called out slogans such as "Boycott Japanese products", "Protect the Diaoyu Islands" and "Smash Japan's daydream of seeking a permanent seat on the UN Security Council."

On Sunday, Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura demanded an official apology and compensation from China for the Japanese embassy being attacked by Beijing demonstrators.

In response, China said the responsibility for the current situation of Sino-Japanese relations does not lie with China, while urging the Japanese to do more things conducive to enhancing mutual trust and maintaining the relations between the two countries, rather than doing the reverse.

However, the Chinese government demanded the demonstrators to keep calm and sane, give voice to their attitude in a lawful and orderly way, and not to engage in excessive action, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters at the weekend.

"Japan must adopt an earnest attitude and appropriate ways to deal with major principled issues concerning the feelings of the Chinese people," he said.

The Social Survey Institute of China released Monday a survey, saying about 96 percent of the respondents condemned the Japanese government's approval of such history textbooks.

Millions of people have signed an online petition to oppose Japan's bid for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council, a mass drive that was launched on March 23.

The two Asian countries are also in disagreement with East China Sea issue and gas field exploration rights these days. Last Monday, Japan reiterated a warning for China to stop exploring deep-sea natural gas fields in the East China Sea.

In response, China told Japan to be prudent on the issue and refrain from worsening the situation by taking any unilateral action, noting that the two countries have not reached any agreement on boundary demarcations in the East China Sea or on exploration and exploitation of oil and gas resources there, and that the issue should be addressed through dialogue and friendly consultation.

Local observers said the China-Japan ties have been frustrated since Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi made annual visits to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, where 14 Class A war criminals of WWII are honored, despite strong opposition from other Asian nations.

Against the backdrop of the thorny issues, diplomats from China and Japan are still trying to seek solutions.

"It (China) is a neighboring country, so diplomacy is very important and miscommunication should not grow between us," Kyodo News quoted Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda as saying on Monday.

The foreign ministries of the two countries are still discussing the possible visit by Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura to China, Qin Gang told a regular press conference Tuesday afternoon, noting that it calls for joint efforts to improve relations.

Source: Xinhua