China urges Japan to follow peaceful development path

BEIJING  -- China on Tuesday urged Japan to follow a path of peaceful development and contribute to regional stability.

Answering a question at a daily press briefing, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said, "Whether Japan can face up to and repent the history of its aggression, and follow the path of peaceful development, has always had universal attention from its Asian neighboring nations and the international community."

The majority of the 454 new Japanese lower house members, who won Sunday's general election, support to revise Japan's pacifist constitution, according to a survey by its country's Kyodo News Agency Tuesday.

About 81.1 percent of the respondents called for lifting the ban on using collective self-defense.

Hua said, "There has been a trend of getting rid of the post-war system and denying peaceful development emerging in Japan in recent years, which has sparked concerns and Asian countries and the international community need to be aware of this trend."

Hua also reiterated the country's appeal that Japan should deeply understand and properly handle problems in the bilateral ties, saying that the Chinese side attaches importance to the direction of Japan's China policy.

Sino-Japanese ties are one of the most important bilateral relations to both China and Japan, and maintaining healthy and stable development of these ties are in the interests of the two countries, she added.