Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (R) meets with Yohei Kono, president of the Japanese Association for the Promotion of International Trade, and a large delegation from Japanese economic circles in Beijing, capital of China, April 14, 2015. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing)
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Tuesday urged Japan to grasp the opportunity to improve bilateral ties and properly handle historical issues.
"China and Japan are both major world economies whose economies are strongly complementary. Japan should grasp the opportunity to improve and promote bilateral ties and create good conditions to expand bilateral trade," Li said while meeting Yohei Kono, president of the Japanese Association for the Promotion of International Trade (JAPIT).
Kono is leading a large delegation from Japan's economic circles, including more than 60 Japanese entrepreneurs and politicians.
Citing the 70th anniversary of the victory in the World Anti-Fascist War and the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression this year, Li said the bilateral relationship is facing a challenge and an opportunity, and the key is how Japan views and treats historical issues.
China-Japan relations have soured since the Japanese government's "purchase" of the Diaoyu Islands in September 2012. Territorial disputes,along with historical issues such as Japan's textbook revisions, have hindered the development of bilateral ties.
"Under current circumstances, we hope the Japanese side could take the long-term development of its relations with its neighbors into consideration, properly handle historical issues and send a positive signal that Japan will face up to history," Li said.
Japan invaded northeast China in September 1931, followed by a full-scale invasion that started on July 7, 1937. Around 35 million Chinese soldiers and civilians were killed or injured during the Japanese occupation, which continued until 1945.
Kono, then chief cabinet secretary, made the "Kono statement" in 1993 acknowledging Japan's recruitment of more than 200,000 young women from China, Korea and Southeast Asia who were forced to serve in military brothels during WWII.
Former Japanese Prime Minister Murayama Tomiichi also made the "Murayama Statement" in 1995, which admitted Japan's history of invasion and offered apologies.
"Your statement showed the courage and accountability of a politician. Your statement and the 'Murayama Statement' embodied the correct attitude that should be held by the Japanese government toward historical issues," Li said.
Though they face difficulties, the two countries still have willingness to improve ties. The Chinese government attaches importance to bilateral ties and is ready to continue to promote them on the basis of the four political documents and the spirit of reflecting on history and looking forward to the future. China will work with countries in the region to maintain East Asia's peace, stability, development and prosperity, the premier noted.
The four political documents refer to the China-Japan Joint Statement inked in 1972, the China-Japan Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1978, the China-Japan Joint Declaration of 1998 and a joint statement on advancing strategic and mutually beneficial relations that was signed in 2008.
Kono said members of JAPIT are devoted to friendly cooperation between China and Japan. Japanese people were also victims of the war 70 years ago, and the pain and harm brought to Japan's Asian neighbors should never be forgotten, he said.
He said the China visit is based on the spirit of taking history as a mirror and looking forward to the future, and Japan wants to see improvement of bilateral ties.
Kono also voiced the importance attached to China's economic growth within Japan as well as the importance of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, which was initiated by China.
Kono and his delegation are visiting China from April 12 to 17. In addition to Beijing, they will visit Xi'an in northwest China's Shaanxi Province.
JAPIT was established in 1954 to promote Japan's foreign trade. The association began to specialize in economic and trade promotion with China in the 1960s and to promote non-governmental trade between the two countries, which laid a foundation for the normalization of bilateral ties. Kono, who was once Japan's vice prime minister, foreign minister and speaker of the Japanese House of Representatives, is JAPIT's 7th president.
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