Ignoring history cannot improve future: ex-Japanese envoy

"The Japanese government should fully realize the situation and show the world that Japan's reflection in the post-war area," Niwa said, thus, the statement should be adopted in a cabinet meeting like the Murayama Statement and Koizumi Statement, which were separately issued on the 50th and 60th anniversary of the end of WWII.

Niwa reiterated, "As I've said before, the future is closely linked with the past. Nobody can break them apart. No matter how prosperous Japan describes the vision of its future to its people, it cannot win trust without a recognition of history."

He called on the two sides to review and reconfirm the spirit of four important political documents so as to keep bilateral relations headed in the right direction and properly handle the current problems.

Niwa was Japan's first ambassador to China from the private sector, and currently serves as the chairman of the Japan-China Friendship Association, which was established in 1950 and has always been committed to non-government exchanges.

He is expected to use his connections with people in Chinese political and business areas to help improve bilateral ties.

When asked about the issue of the two countries' public holding negative opinions of each other, Niwa, also a former president of Japanese trading house Itochu Corp., thought the problem can be improved by increasing people to people exchanges.

"Mutual perception between the people of China and Japan has fallen behind times. Hopefully they could have more chances to communicate and build trust in the future."

Niwa believed that both Japan and China should take history as a mirror and face forward to the future and push their friendship forward in the near future.