People from both the Chinese mainland and Taiwan hope that Japan will take a correct attitude of being responsible for history to break the stalemate in Sino-Japanese relations, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in Beijing Thursday.

Qin said at a regular press conference that people from both the mainland and Taiwan have a clear understanding toward Japan's current wrong words and actions, and hope the Japanese side could face history with a right point of view and take concrete measures to fulfil its commitments when normalizing the relationship with China.

Mentioning the modern history of Taiwan, the spokesman said Taiwan has been China's territory since ancient times. The region was ceded to Japan in 1895 under the Treaty of Shimonoseki.

Following Japan's World War II defeat in 1945, Taiwan was returned to China as required by the Potsdam Proclamation and the Cairo Declaration, Qin said.

Source: Xinhua