The key to improving Sino-Japanese relations lies in the Japanese side, said a bylined article carried on Singapore's leading Chinese-language newspaper Lianhe Zaobao on June 13. Japan needs to transcend its current mindset and traditional mentality to revise its position and China policy, for only by doing so can the present frosty Sino-Japanese ties thaw out.

Entitled "Warmer China-Japan ties, can be hard, can be easy", the article pointed out that Japan has always been a double dealer when it comes to its war behavior. On the one hand, Japan offered an "apology'' for its World War II aggressions. On the other hand, Japanese Diet men and important government officials, including the prime minister, have been insisting on paying homage to the Yasukuni Shrine, where war criminals are worshiped, at the same time minimizing the country's militaristic offenses in textbooks. These self-contradictory acts leave China, who once suffered significantly at the hands of Japanese militarists, profoundly doubtful about Japan's remorse for its aggression history and about its denunciation of militarism. Once an opportunity crops up, the nation, which has more military spending and higher technological capacity than China does, is likely to inflict disasters on China again.

The Sino-Japanese relations concern the fundamental interests of the two countries, and also peace and stability in Asia, the article said. They are therefore linked with the important interests of Asian countries and the international society as a whole. For Japan, if it clings to the present attitude towards war and Taiwan, it would be simply impossible to dispel Chinese doubts and dissatisfaction.

The article believed that from a long-term point of view, China and Japan should seek integration and cooperation in East Asia, or even in the whole Asia, with a leading profile so as to set up an East Asian union or Asian union, just like the European Union. What France and Germany, once enemies, have done in Europe, China and Japan will also able to achieve.

To contain China can only bring about opposite results, the article pointed out. If Japan refuses to join with the United States in restraining China, it will not be detrimental to the United States; on the contrary, it will help the US readjust its China policy as early as possible, and facilitate the US and China to establish relations more favorable to mutual exchanges and world peace. If the Japanese government persists in its current standpoint and policies, one can hardly expect any substantial improvement in its ties with China. However, if it can ever transcend its conventional political thinking and traditional psychology, and make joint efforts with the Chinese government, it will be entirely able to establish a brand-new partnership with China in the not-too-far-away future.

By People's Daily Online