Japanese leaders' wrongdoing on the Taiwan issue and wrong historical attitudes is the reason behind Japanese public sentiment toward China being at a record low, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said Tuesday.

According to a Japanese Cabinet Office poll released Saturday, the Japanese people's feeling about China has worsened with a record-low 32.4 percent feeling good about the country, down 5.2 percentage points from a year ago,

"The major reason for the negative poll result is Japanese top leaders' repeated wrongdoings on the Taiwan issue and its wrong attitudes toward history," Qin Gang told a regular press conference.

It is widely believed that Japanese Prime Minister's repeated visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors 2.5 million Japanese war dead, including a dozen major World War II criminals, is the main reason for the deterioration of China-Japan ties.

The friendship between the two peoples constitutes a major part of China-Japan relations, and Japan is expected to employ effective methods to mend the current bilateral situation, Qin Gang said.

"We hope to see more active efforts from the Japanese side to promote mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples." Qin said.

Source: Xinhua