Friendship is paramount to China-Japan ties
Gao HongPeople's Daily  Updated: 2005-04-25 16:51

Amid rising tensions between China and Japan, Chinese President Hu Jintao and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi met after the conclusion of the Asian-African leaders summit in Indonesia, April 23, 2005. President Hu put forward five proposals on developing bilateral relations, arousing worldwide attention.

Their meeting came after Koizumi voiced Japan "remorse and heartfelt apology" for tremendous damages and suffering brought to the Asian peoples during the World War II, a statement similar to the one made by then Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama in 1995.

In recent years, Japan failed to keep its promises on the issues of history textbooks and Taiwan by approving textbooks distorting history and granting visa to Taiwan's diehard splittist Lee Teng-hui. A series of actions by Japan, under its hawkish foreign policies, severely harmed the feelings of Asian people, including Chinese, as well the Sino-Japan relations, and provoked indignation among the Chinese people.

And in 2004, Japan began with great fanfare to conduct seabed resource surveys to the east of its unilaterally-announced 'median line' in the East China Sea, an area disputed between China and Japan, adding fuel to the tensions.

As an old Chinese saying goes, the proper person to remove the bell should be the one who originally tied it on. It is helpful that Koizumi made the apology, echoing to Murayama's speech. But, how to get on with each other is still an issue deserving two governments' careful consideration.

Japan's persistence on its wrong attitude on history could only harm Chinese and Asian people's feelings, and shortsighted competition for energy would never lead to long-term cooperation. Japan's attempt to confront China by relying on the US power would only damage Sino-Japan relationship and East Asia's future peace and development. Instead, co-existence and co-prosperity is the right choice and essential safeguard for China and Japan's friendship generations for generations.

In China, the patriotic education is not an anti-Japan education and will never be. It means to avoid the reoccurrence of historical tragedies and to advocate peace and common development. Japan should be at ease about this.

President Hu stated China's clear attitude and Koizumi has voiced remorse and apology. What matters now is how Japan will match words with action.

(This is an abstract of an article by Gao Hong, researcher of the Institute of Japan Studies under the Chinese Acadamy of Social Science, published in the People's Daily on April 25)

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