Forum told: Respect could help China-Japan ties
(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2005-08-23 11:30

Respecting each other should be the guiding line for the handling of Sino-Japanese relations, a senior Chinese official said Tuesday at a forum in Beijing.

The prerequisite for lifting the current frosty relations "lies in one word - respect. Respect for oneself and the other, respect for interests and truth, respect for history and future, " said Chen Haosu, president of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, as he addressed the first Beijing-Tokyo Forum on Japan-China relations.

The annual event, jointly held by China Daily, the Peking University and Genron NPO of Japan, gathered more than 60 Chinese and Japanese officials and experts.

Chen refuted the accusations by some Japanese that China is conducting anti-Japanese education.

China suffered most in the World War II, with some 35 million citizens being killed, Chen noted. However, certain Japanese denied the atrocities and said that they launched war to "liberate the Asian people," which is sure to arouse anger among the war victims.

In telling its youth about history, China aims at making them aware of the historical lesson that being backwards means being bullied and inspire their enthusiasm in building a strong nation, according to Chen.

He urged the Japanese government to reflect profoundly over the war past and blamed the current stalemate in relations on Japanese denial of war past.

"If the party that has done some evil in history can reflect profoundly and use their acts to prove that they will never resort to evil, then the victims are sure to forgive them and will not bring forward their past sufferings, " according to Chen, "However, if the evil-doers deny the evil acts and continue to inflict upon the victims, then it is impossible for the victims to forget about the old grievances. "