China and Japan should increase exchanges in various fields, in a bid to bring the Sino-Japanese relations out of the current difficult situation, experts from both countries said in Kunming yesterday.  

The experts made the remarks in this capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province while attending a two-day meeting of the New 21st Century Committee for China-Japan Friendship over the weekend.

Zheng Bijian, China's chief representative in the committee and also former executive vice president of the Party School of the CPC (Communist Party of China) Central Committee, said China and Japan should strive to turn the challenges faced by Sino-Japanese ties into opportunities, and make joint efforts to achieve a win-win friendly bilateral ties in peace.

Ito Motoshige, an economist with Tokyo University, said the two sides need to have a better understanding of each other in order to get rid of the current difficulties arising in the development of Sino-Japanese relations.

"Japan and China enjoy increasingly frequent exchanges in economy and culture nowadays, which provide feasibility for the two sides to further expand cooperation fields and channels," he said.

Yan Xuetong, an expert on international studies from Tsinghua University, said the most important thing for improving Sino-Japanese relations is still to take a correct attitude towards history.

During the two-day meeting, dignitaries of the two countries stressed that the spirit of "taking history as a mirror and looking forward to the future" should be adhered to in an effort to properly handle bilateral relations and maintain a state of peace, friendship and cooperation.

They proposed both governments strengthen cooperation in broader areas such as economy, energy and environment for common interests.

They also suggested the governments create favorable conditions for the improvement of bilateral relations. The governments are also encouraged to actively carry out youth, culture and sports exchanges so as to promote mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples.

The New 21st Century Committee for China-Japan Friendship was founded in July 2003 with the aim of studying ways to develop China-Japan relations and giving relevant advices to the governments.

(Xinhua News Agency August 1, 2005)