Xi urges Japan to remove distractions of ties with actions

Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Saturday that Japan shall honor its words on issues related to history and Taiwan, and remove the distractions in bilateral relations with strategies and concrete actions. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Hamburg, Germany, on Saturday, July 8, 2017. [Photo: Xinhua]

While meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of the ongoing Group of 20 (G20) summit, Xi also urged Japan to learn from history so as to ensure that the China-Japan relations run in the right direction and have a brighter prospect.

Xi noted that the sound neighborly relations between China and Japan concern not only the well-being of the two peoples, but also have an impact on Asia and the world at large.

China and Japan normalized their diplomatic relations 45 years ago after reaching key consensus on history, Taiwan and Diaoyu Islands, among other issues. Next year, the two nations will embrace the 40th anniversary of the signing of the China-Japan Treaty of Peace and Friendship.

The Chinese president said the two countries shall enhance their sense of responsibility at this moment, and seize the opportunities in the new era of bilateral ties.

In spite of twists and turns, and other severe tests in the past 45 years, the development of Beijing-Tokyo relations has rendered both sides many constructive inspirations, Xi said.

For Japan, it shall prove its expectations for peace, friendship and cooperation with China with policies and concrete actions, he added.

Political trust is the premise of the China-Japan relations, Xi said, referring to the four political documents and the four-point agreement that serve as the guiding principles of bilateral ties on properly handling issues related to history and Taiwan, among others.

These issues, vital to the political foundation of the China-Japan ties, bear no room for compromise or regression, or the bilateral relations will veer off the right course and slow down its pace of development, he said.

The Chinese president also welcomed Japan to join in the Belt and Road pragmatic cooperation, urging wide-range exchanges between the two sides on culture, education, media, local-level and youth in a bid to garner more public support for bilateral friendship.

For his part, Abe said his country is ready to display foresight and add momentum to its ties with China, since the two countries, the world's second and third economies, respectively, are influential players on global and regional issues.

The Japanese leader eyed more high-level exchanges with China, adding that he is willing to enhance bilateral cooperation with China in such areas as economy and trade, finance, tourism, as well as the Belt and Road collaboration.

He also promised that regarding China's Taiwan, there is no change of Japan's stance inscribed in its joint statement with China in 1972.

Bilateral trust has been marred from time to time over Tokyo's reluctance on admitting its past war crimes, the attempt to annex China's Diaoyu Islands and adjacent islets in the East China Sea, and the initiative to abolish its post-war pacifist constitution that forbids the deployment of troops overseas for fight.

Tokyo was also a vigorous advocate of the so-called "China threat," frequently participating in military drills in Asia-Pacific with the United States, and selling weapons to the former Philippine administration when the Manila-manipulated South China Sea farce peaked to a failed arbitration last year.