China expressed astonishment and dissatisfaction over Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura's recent remarks asking China to improve its history education, saying the remarks were "totally unreasonable."
Foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao took issue with the Japanese minister while answering a question from a reporter during a regular press briefing in Beijing yesterday. The journalist said that on March 4, Machimura told a session of the House of Councilors Budget Committee that Japan would ask China to improve its history education, which he dubbed anti-Japanese.
In response, Liu said, "We are astonished and dissatisfied to hear the remarks."
Japanese militarists invaded China in the 1930s, bringing not only tremendous sufferings to the Chinese people but also lots of pains to the Japanese people, Liu said. The Chinese government always advocates "taking history as a mirror and looking forward to the future" and educates its people in the spirit of keeping friendship between the Chinese people and Japanese people.
"It is totally unreasonable for the Japanese to criticize China's history education," he said.
On a question regarding the recent US-Australia military alliance, Liu said China has always held that military alliances between any two countries should not go beyond the bilateral scope.
The countries concerned should work for the peace and stability of the whole region, he said, adding that "Taiwan is an inseparable territory of China. The Taiwan question has a bearing on China's sovereignty and territorial integrity."