The repatriation of 1.05 million Japanese emigrants in China after World War II was marked Sunday in Huludao City, northeast China's Liaoning Province.

Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan and former Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama addressed a forum on China-Japan relations, part of the activities marking the 60th anniversary of the repatriation.

"The fact that Chinese and Japanese gathered here today to review the history and look forward to the future displays our resolution and belief to cherish peace, oppose war and promote friendship, " Tang said at the opening address.

Tang said the commemorations are of "great historical and realistic significance."

"The repatriation demonstrated the munificence and humanitarianism of the Chinese people, thus quite a few Japanese are deeply grateful to the repatriation," said Murayama, who served as Japanese Prime Minister from June 1994 to January 1996.

The forum was sponsored by the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and the Liaoning provincial government.

On May 7, 1946, nine months after Japan surrendered to the Allies, about 2,500 Japanese emigrants, victims of their country's colonial expansion, began their voyage home from Huludao, marking the beginning of a repatriation effort that lasted until 1948.

(Xinhua News Agency June 25, 2006)