China and Japan on Monday launched regular exchange mechanism
between their top legislative bodies during Japan's Upper House
president Chikage Ogi's visit to China. The move is widely seen as
a signal that the two Asian neighbors are stepping up efforts to
repair ties.
China's top legislator Wu Bangguo and Japan's House of Councilors
President Chikage Ogi signed a Memorandum of Understanding in
Beijing on Monday, and expressed the hope that the mechanism will
provide an opportunity for the two countries to carry out pragmatic
cooperation and exchanges to benefit bilateral relations.
Ogi is the first Japanese Upper House chief to visit China in
seven years since her predecessor Juro Saito's trip in 1999.
Ogi's visit came a week after Japan's new Prime Minister Shinzo
Abe, the first Japanese leader to have visited China in five years,
held summit talks with Chinese leaders in Beijing. Chinese
President Hu Jintao described Abe's visit as a "turning point" in
relations.
"Prime Minister Abe and the Chinese leaders reached a series of
consensus on developing China-Japan relations during the visit,
breaking the political stalemate between the two countries and
bringing bilateral ties to the normal track of development," said
Wu, who is chairman of the Standing Committee of Chinese National
People's Congress.
China-Japan relations soured over former Japanese Prime Minister
Junichiro Koizumi's persistent visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, where
14 Japanese Class-A World War II criminals are honored along with
the country's other war dead.
Describing the past five years as "the most difficult" period in
bilateral relations, Wu said the improvement of China-Japan
relations is a hard-won result and needs to be cherished.
But Wu said Japan should be sensitive to history and the Taiwan
issue, two things that form the political foundation of bilateral
relations.
"The fact proves that, if we handle such issues in accordance
with the three political documents, China-Japan relations will move
ahead soundly, otherwise they will stagnate or back up," Wu pointed
out.
Ogi's China tour coincides with a meeting between the ruling
parties of the two countries to be held in Tokyo.
The Chinese delegation, headed by Wang Jiarui, head of the
International Department of the Community Party of China, was
invited to attend by the Japanese Liberal Democratic Party and
Komei Party.
The meeting is part of the China-Japanese ruling parties
exchange mechanism, which was established in 2004 and formally
launched in February this year.
In addition, the two countries have made frequent contacts at
non-governmental level in the past years. The China-Japan strategic
dialogue also throws open for discussion a range of thorny issues
of mutual concern.
Abe and Ogi's visits can be seen as signs that China-Japan
relations have entered a period of "favorable interaction", said
Wang Shan, a Japan expert at the China Institute of Contemporary
International Relations.
China and Japan have broken the political stalemate and unveiled
multi-level exchanges, which will offer a strategic opportunity for
the development of bilateral relations, Wang added.
(Xinhua News Agency October 17, 2006)
