Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing told visiting Japanese Foreign Minister Machimura Nobutaka yesterday that China hopes Japan to take "concrete actions" to face up with and self-examine its history of invasion.
In line with the spirit of "taking history as a mirror and looking forward to the future" and the three key political documents on bilateral ties, China hopes the two countries can co-exist peacefully, maintain friendship for generations to come, conduct cooperation on a mutually beneficial basis and seek common development, Li said.
"That will serve the long-term interests of the two countries as well as world peace, stability and development," said the Chinese foreign minister.
Li said a correct view of history is a precondition for improving China-Japan ties.
China hopes that the Japanese side will take concrete actions to honor its pledge of facing up with and self-examining its history of invasion, and stop doing things that would harm the feeling of the Chinese people so as to thoroughly tackle relevant problems, Li said.
Nobutaka said the Japanese government will adhere to the spirit of "taking history as a mirror and looking forward to the future" and develop Japan-China friendship from the viewpoint of the overall situation of bilateral ties.
Nobutaka said Japan's invasion into China in modern history brought great damage to the Chinese people. The Japanese side feels deep regret for that and once again expresses "deep remorse and apology," he said.
The Japanese side will draw profound lessons from history and will continue to adopt a path of peaceful development, he said.
On the Taiwan issue, Li told Nobutaka that the Taiwan issue is a problem concerning on "the core interest" of China's and relates to the feeling of 1.3 billion Chinese people. The adherence to the one-China principle lays the political foundation of the China-Japan relationship, he stressed.
The Chinese side strongly requests Japan to honor its promise and not do anything detrimental to China's sovereignty, Li said.
The Japanese foreign minister reiterated that Japan adheres to the one-China policy, and renders no support to "two Chinas," "one China, one Taiwan" or "Taiwan independence."
Both Li and Nobutaka agreed that Sino-Japanese relations are important to both and the two sides should handle the relationship from long-term and strategic perspectives.
The two sides agreed to make joint efforts to safeguard world peace and stability, not pose any threat to the other and resolve disputes through dialogue.
Li solemnly demanded the Japanese government take effective measures for guaranteeing the safety of Chinese institutions and citizens in Japan.
In Tokyo, the Chinese Embassy in Japan has lodged a protest to the Japanese government, after the embassy and the consulate had been harassed over the past week.
The residence of the Chinese ambassador to Japan was molested late Friday, with its doorplate, mailbox and interphone sprayed with red paint.
On Friday afternoon, the Chinese Embassy received an anonymous envelop with white powder inside. Japanese police said the white powder turned out to be starch and it was a hoax, but they were investigating the incident.
On Wednesday, an envelope containing a razor blade was sent to the Chinese Embassy.
On Monday, the Chinese Consulate in Osaka received a letter of intimidation, with shells of pistol bullets in the envelope.