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Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing (L) meets with his Japanese counterpart Taro Aso in Doha May 23. (Xinhua Photo) |
DOHA, May 23 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Li
Zhaoxing on Tuesday urged the Japanese government to remove political obstacle
to improving and developing bilateral ties.
During a meeting with his Japanese counterpart Taro
Aso, Li said that a correct understanding and treatment of the unfortunate
period of the history constitutes an important political basis for restoration
and development of post-war bilateral ties.
He stressed that Japanese leaders' insistence on
paying homage at the Yasukuni Shrine that honors convicted Japanese war
criminals severely hurts the Chinese people's feeling and harms political basis
for bilateral ties.
"It is imperative to remove such an obstacle to
improving and developing bilateral ties," Li said.
The meeting was held on the sidelines of the fifth
ministerial meeting of the Asia Cooperation Dialogue in the Qatari capital of
Doha, which opened on Tuesday and will end on Wednesday.
Li said that the Chinese government has attached
great importance to developing Sino-Japanese friendship and is ready to promote
good-neighborly and cooperative ties with Japan based on drawing on lessons from
the history and looking to the future.
Recalling that Chinese President Hu Jintao expounded
the Chinese government's policies on cherishing and developing bilateral
relations in a meeting with a group of Japanese guests representing seven
associations for Japanese-Chinese friendship on March 31, Li said that at
present, Sino-Japanese political ties are facing serious difficulties, which is
not in the interests of the peoples of the two countries nor in line with
aspirations of the international community.
The Chinese side is willing to work with the Japanese
side to bring bilateral ties back on track, Li said.
For his part, Aso said that Japan pays close
attention to its ties with China and welcomes China's peaceful development and
hopes to develop bilateral ties based on three political documents guiding
bilateral ties.
On the Taiwan issue, he said that the Japanese
government will continue to observe the one-China principle.
He said that the Japanese government mulled President
Hu's March 31 remarks and hopes that the two sides will grasp real meanings of
the remarks to engage in more dialogues and exchanges and enhance mutual
understanding in order to improve and develop bilateral ties.
During the meeting, the two sides agreed that
Sino-Japanese ties are one of the most important bilateral relationships for
both sides.
The two ministers also agreed that it is important to
strengthen strategic dialogue between the two countries and to work together to
remove political barrier and to deepen economic and trade cooperation and to
initiate cooperation in the areas of energy saving and environmental protection
and to expand shared interests.
They agreed that it is important to promote
people-to-people exchanges, especially among young people, and to continue to
engage in security dialogue at deputy ministerial-level and military exchanges.
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