Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun

China on Tuesday urged Japan to abide by the spirit of the four political documents between the two countries and correct its erroneous claims and deeds, as the day marked the 54th anniversary of the issuance of the 1972 Sino-Japanese Joint Statement and the normalization of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Fifty-four years ago, leaders of the older generation of China and Japan, with extraordinary political vision and courage, signed and issued the joint statement and normalized diplomatic relations between the two countries, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said at a regular press conference on Tuesday.

In the joint statement, the Japanese side stated that it was "keenly conscious of the responsibility for the serious damage that Japan caused in the past to the Chinese people through war, and deeply reproaches itself." 

Japan also recognized the Government of the People's Republic of China as the sole legal government of China and fully understood and respected the Chinese government's position that Taiwan is an inalienable part of the territory of the People's Republic of China, Guo said.

The four political documents including the joint statement laid the political and legal foundation for bilateral relations and established political rules for properly handling major issues of principle, including history and the Taiwan question, and they should not be distorted, rolled back or undermined, Guo said.

More than half a century later, China-Japan relations are once again facing a severe situation, and the root cause lies in the serious damage done to the political foundation of bilateral relations, Guo said.

Japan's current leader, instead of reflecting on Japan's responsibility for its history of aggression, has claimed that a "Taiwan contingency" could constitute a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, openly challenging China's national sovereignty and reneging on the original aspiration behind the normalization of China-Japan diplomatic relations as well as Japan's political commitments to China, the spokesperson said.

The Japanese side has also hyped up so-called "external threats" as a pretext to accelerate its re-militarization, challenge the post-war international order and threaten regional peace and stability, Guo added. 

"History has repeatedly shown that only by truly abiding by the spirit of the four political documents between China and Japan can bilateral relations stay on course and avoid derailment," Guo said.

Guo noted that, as Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi pointed out on Monday during his meeting with Takeshi Iwaya, head of Japan's Association for the Promotion of International Trade, for Japan, the pressing task is to correct the erroneous claims and deeds of its leaders on the Taiwan question as soon as possible, and what matters is to adopt a correct attitude toward historical issues, and fundamentally, Japan needs to develop an objective and rational perception of China.

"On this day of important historical significance, we once again urge those in power in Japan to earnestly reflect on and correct their mistakes, and return to the original aspiration and starting point of the four political documents through concrete actions," Guo said.

Global Times