By Huang Qing

At the ministerial meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation in mid-November, Chinese and Japanese foreign ministers reached a consensus on conducting joint research on history relevant to both countries.

To begin, the two parties decided on the principles on which the joint historical studies will be carried out. These are principles laid down by the China-Japan Joint Communique, the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between China and Japan and the China-Japan Joint Declaration, or "three political documents" as it's known in China.

Second, the two sides clarified the targets of the joint historical research promoting mutual understanding by studying the 2,000 years of Sino-Japanese exchanges, sorrows and sufferings brought by wars in more recent history and the journey of the Sino-Japanese relationship over the last six decades since the end of World War II.

The current China-Japan relationship is laden with factors that trigger conflicting morals and interests, or that have the potential to touch off clashes, including how to understand and interpret history. Disputes over the sovereignty of the Diaoyu Islands and controversy over the East China Sea exclusive economic zone are also included.

Other questions seem to involve purely internal affairs but are actually diplomatic and international issues. For example, the definition of one country's character and its orientation is likely to affect its neighbors, especially when past unhappy experiences are taken into account.

Still other questions involve the real interests and rights of the countries and the disputes seem to be uncompromising. But they could translate into situations that benefit both parties, on the condition that ideas and values are altered and a hostile mentality discarded.

On the other hand, the experience of the last 60 years since the end of World War II shows that China and Japan share many interests covering wide areas and that possibilities for both to benefit exist here, there and everywhere. In a sense, interests shared by both parties outshine the conflict-triggering factors.

As a result, how to properly handle conflicting and shared interests and take good care of both parties' needs constitutes a test for the political wisdom of the leadership on both sides.

As is well known, the "three political documents" pass judgement on the unjustifiable nature of the wars launched by Japan in recent history. This constitutes the vitally important political basis for China-Japan rapprochement. If this judgement is not clarified, the historical issues will only deteriorate bilateral relations and poison the feelings of the two peoples.

The two sides agreed to approach history from a deeper and broader perspective. In the past 2,000 years, Chinese and Japanese cultures have borrowed from each other and the Sino-Japanese relationship was punctuated by wars and conflicts starting from the late 19th century until the end of World War II.

If we take a number of steps back from the history and frame it in a much wider perspective, we will get a panoramic view and be clear about its origin and direction. In this way, one will not get too bogged down in details so as to keep the big picture of history in one's mind.

History should serve as a mirror but should never be a psychological knot. We should not forget the past, otherwise the foolishness could be repeated again and again. At the same time, people should show tolerance towards the hatred and woes of the past, otherwise the human race could be borne down by increasingly heavier historical baggage.

A number of factors are worth our consideration in carrying out the joint historical research program.

First, the universally accepted historical outlooks and values should be stuck to. For example, aggressive wars and colonial rule can never be justified, as people from across the world believe.

Some people in Japan, however, maintain that Japan simply became a loser in the big-power war game because it was weaker in military strength and technology than other players. As a result, they insist, no moral right and wrong was involved.

This theory of "the loser in the big-power game" has it wrong.

The first half of the 20th century saw two world wars.

World War I was heavily tinged with big powers' rivalry for hegemony. However, insofar as World War II is concerned, the atrocities committed by the axis powers and their aggressive campaigns against other nations gave legitimacy and historical justice to the anti-fascist wars.

Moreover, the theory does not fit the China-Japan relationship.

Second, the understanding and interpretation of history and war varies from one country to another because they have undergone different historical processes in the years since World War II. Germany, for example, went to great pains to distance itself from Nazism and deal with its past. Things were, however, different in Japan. Some old values and institutions were preserved, making history a time bomb in its future development.

Nazism seemed to emerge from nowhere and, consequently, had no deep roots in the soil of Germany. In Japan, bushido, or the way of the warrior, is deeply rooted in Japanese history. All this helps make East Asian history complex.

Third, cultural and religious traditions count for a lot in understanding and interpreting the history and war.

Germany liquidated its past. This might have something to do with the sense of original sin in Christianity, in the opinion of this author. The Germans, therefore, found no psychological barriers to express their profound remorse over the crimes committed by the Nazis. In Japan, however, there is a tradition of "sense of shame." People could take their own lives just for the sake of "decency."

Swayed by such a frame of mind, some Japanese are simply unable to bring themselves to face squarely the feeling of humiliation brought by the war crimes. Others, though harboring no hostility towards the Chinese, try to offer various explanations in the hope that the images of the Japanese of the war generation would not look that bad.

This psychology will not change easily for a long time to come. This means that the questions involving the history connected to China and Japan will go through a long period of time before all the matters get straightened out.

Japan's war of aggression against China ended more than six decades ago and the majority of today's Japanese were born after World War II. They should not be held responsible for the war waged by their fathers' or grandfathers' generation. But on the other hand, the Chinese demand for correctly interpreting the history is also justified because the Chinese want history to serve as a mirror so that historical errors can be avoided in the future.

In summary, the joint historical research program will be a process of reconstructing values and cultural and psychological communication, as well as a journey through which historical facts are sorted out and studied. It is expected to have a positive impact on China-Japan relations.

The author is a council member of the China Foundation of International Studies.

(China Daily November 24, 2006)