The War of Japanese aggression against China inflicted extremely grave disasters on the Chinese people. China and its people suffered a tremendous loss. As the old saying “The past, if not forgotten, can serve as a guide for the future” goes, such a miserable history should be borne in mind. Nevertheless, it should be noted that it was a few militarists who launched the war and should take the primary responsibilities. The Japanese people were also the victims of the war. It has been always the policy of our party and government to draw a clear distinction between the few militarists and Japanese people. During the negotiation of normalization of diplomatic relation in 1972, the Japanese government stated that it keenly felt and introspected the severe responsibilities arising from the war for the Chinese people. Taking this into consideration, the Chinese government decided to waive the claim of war reparations, which was written into the Sino-Japanese Joint Statement in 1972. The Treaty of Peace and Friendship, approved by the 3rd meeting of the 5th Standing Committee of Chinese People's Congress in 1978, reaffirmed in the form of legal document the decision of waiving reparation. The position of the Chinese government on this issue is clear and consistent: China sticks to the position of waiving reparation stated in the Sino-Japanese Joint Statement and continues to honor her commitments of international treaty stated in the Treaty of Peace and Friendship. However, as for those realistic problems left over by the War of Japanese Aggression against China, such as the chemical weapons discarded by Japan. The Chinese government, proceeding from protecting the legitimate rights and interests of its people, requests that the Japanese side should take them into serious consideration and handle them properly.
