Efforts urged to further boost Sino-Japan relations

(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-09-16 15:03

Cui Tiankai, Chinese ambassador to Japan, speaks at the fourth Beijing-Tokyo Forum in Tokyo September 16, 2008. [chinadaily.com.cn]

Due to frequent exchanges of high-level visits in the past years, China and Japan have elevated their relations out of the lows and started a new chapter in bilateral ties, a top Chinese diplomat said on Tuesday.

“With mutual efforts, Sino-Japanese relations have successfully walked out of a deadlock, marking a new starting point in history,” Cui Tiankai, Chinese ambassador to Japan, said Tuesday morning in Tokyo on the fourth Tokyo-Beijing Forum.

Cui said China appreciated the help from the Japanese government and its people in the relief efforts after the May 12 Sichuan earthquake, regarding it as a highlight of relations between the two countries in recent years. The Japanese government offered about $5 million emergency aid to China and dispatched a rescue team of 60 members to support efforts in finding survivors.

Sino-Japanese relations have also gained a positive trend of increasing warmth with the recent mutual visits by top leaders of both countries, including the meeting during Beijing Olympic Games between Chinese President Hu Jintao and Japan PM Yasuo Fukuda, who made a surprise resignation on September 1.

Despite the political turmoil following Fukuda’s resignation, Japan foreign minister Masahiko Komura reiterated in his forum speech that “the importance of placing priority on relations with China would not change”. He also recommended more high-profile dialogues this year, to further enhance mutual trust under the guidelines of a strategic relationship with reciprocity.

While admitting setbacks in the past plaguing bilateral relations at times between China and Japan, ambassador Cui spared no effort in stressing the importance of Sino-Japanese relations. In his speech dotted with historical references, Cui recalled extensive efforts by former leaders to establish, enhance and improve diplomatic relations between the two countries.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the historic visit in 1978 to Japan by former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping who took a trip on the high-speed bullet train in Japan and decided to start the reform and opening-up policy back in China that year. In that same year, the China-Japan Treaty of Peace and Friendship, one of the three fundamental political documents in Sino-Japanese diplomatic relations, was signed in Beijing. Those events are historical milestones by pioneers should be remembered, Cui said during the two-day forum.

Zhu Ling, editor-in-chief of China Daily, speaks at the 4th Beijing-Tokyo Forum in Tokyo September 16, 2008. China Daily is the Chinese side founder the forum. [chinadaily.com.cn]

The Tokyo-Beijing Forum, alternatively held in Beijing and Tokyo, is an annual non-government activity first co-organized by China Daily and Japan Genron NPO (non-profit organization) in 2005, in an effort to promote Sino-Japanese communication and friendship through civil communities, academic groups as well as the media.

Zhu Ling, editor-in-chief of China Daily is at the forum and says China and Japan need to make further efforts so as to continue the further warming up bilateral relations.