Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan met in Beijing Monday with Kanzaki Takenori, visiting leader of the Japanese Komei Party, and reiterated China's stance on Sino-Japanese ties.
Tang spoke highly of the Komei Party, which has been for years dedicating to resuming and developing Sino-Japanese relations.
He pointed out that China and Japan have signed three important political documents, namely, the Sino-Japanese Joint Statement, the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between China and Japan, and the Sino-Japanese Joint Declaration, which have defined the fundamental principles directing Sino-Japanese ties.
To treat and handle historical problems in the right way is key to the three documents, Tang stressed.
He said Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's latest visit to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine seriously hurt the people of China and other Asian countries, which is totally contradictory to the principles and spirit of the three documents.
Whether the Japanese side could righteously face the aggression history of the Japanese Militarism is the core of the Yasukuni Shrine issue, Tang said. China firmly opposes Japanese leaders to visit the Shrine in any form and at any time.
Chinese President Jiang Zemin has repeatedly stated China and Japan should take history as a mirror and look into the future, which is of great importance to the sound development of Sino-Japanese ties. Only by fully recognizing the history, would China and Japan open up a brighter future.
(Xinhua News Agency April 30, 2002)
