A senior Communist Party of China (CPC) official said in Beijing
Thursday that China hopes Japan would work with China to push
bilateral ties back on the track.
"We hope Japan would take concrete measures to push China-Japan
ties back on the track of healthy and stable development," He
Guoqiang, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central
Committee, told Tetsuzo Fuwa, former chairman of the Central
Committee of the Communist Party of Japan.
Leaders of the two countries have suspended exchanges since
2001, after Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro began paying
homage at the controversial Yasukuni Shrine that honors convicted
Japanese war criminals.
He Guoqiang said leaders of the CPC and the Chinese government
have expressed commitment to improving China-Japan ties on many
occasions, which shows China's positive attitude and sincerity.
Chinese President Hu Jintao had explained China's policy on
China-Japan relations on March 31 in a meeting with the heads of
seven Japan-China friendship organizations.
Hu made it clear that the major obstacle in China-Japan
relations was Japanese leaders' insistence on visiting the Yasukuni
Shrine.
Hu, however, noted that the Chinese government believed the
Japanese people's visits to the Yasukuni Shrine were different from
that of their leaders, and ordinary Japanese soldiers who were
forced into war were different from the few militarists and class A
war criminals.
In response, Fuwa said his party would continue to make efforts
to help repair relations between the two countries.
Fuwa was leading a delegation of the Communist Party of Japan to
have academic exchanges with the Communist Party of China in
Beijing.
(Xinhua News Agency May 26, 2006)
