China's top legislator Wu Bangguo said in Beijing Tuesday that
China hopes the relationship with Japan will be improved so that it
can develop in a healthy way.
"China and Japan are close neighbors, and to develop long-term
stable good-neighborly cooperation serves the basic interests of
the two countries and helps promote peace, stability and
development in the region and the whole world," Wu told a
delegation of Japan's House of Representatives.
Wu, chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National
People's Congress (NPC), said the Chinese government has always
handled China-Japan ties from a strategic and long-term perspective
and is committed to promoting peaceful coexistence, friendship,
reciprocal cooperation and common development.
Relations between China and Japan have undergone difficulties
due to Japanese leaders' repeated visits to the Yasukuni Shrine,
which honors Japan's war dead, including 14 convicted class A WWII
war criminals.
The leaders of the two countries halted visits following
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's homage at the war
shrine soon after he took office in 2001.
"To correctly view and handle history issues is the important
political foundation of China-Japan relations," Wu told the
delegation, led by Genichiro Sata, chairman of the Committee on
Rules and Administration of Japan's House of Representatives.
He emphasized the principle of "taking history as a mirror and
looking forward to the future," saying that he hopes the political
obstacles in China-Japan ties will be removed so that their
relationship will "be back on the track of healthy
development."
The Japanese Diet members are in China to have an annual meeting
with China's NPC.
Wu said he hopes the parliamentary members of the two countries
will make full use of such exchange mechanisms to improve
understanding through dialogue in a bid to improve bilateral
ties.
Genichiro Sata said to promote Japan-China friendship is a
common belief of the parties in the Japanese House of
Representatives and it is in the interests of the Japanese
people.
He said that Japan's House of Representatives also hopes to work
with China's NPC to improve their exchange channels so as to
contribute to the development of Japan-China relations.
After the meeting, Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan also met
with the Japanese delegation.
(Xinhua News Agency July 5, 2006)
