The Chinese premier, Wen Jiabao, on Thursday assured Japanese MPs that their countries’ friendship was ”unshakeable” but warned them that the scars of history would not heal until Japan confronted the legacy of its military aggression in Asia.
Wen, on the first visit to Japan by a Chinese leader for seven years, also urged his hosts to oppose Taiwanese independence, a move he said Beijing would ”never tolerate”.
”Japan’s invasions caused tremendous damage to the Chinese,” Wen said in the first address to the Japanese Parliament by a senior Chinese politician for 22 years. ”The deep scars left in the hearts of the Chinese people cannot be described.”
In a speech televised live in both countries, Wen noted that Japan had apologised for its wartime atrocities and that its people had also suffered, but said that the country’s leaders had not done enough to demonstrate its remorse.
”To reflect on history is not to dwell on hard feelings but to remember and learn from the past in order to open a better future,” he said.
But he avoided mention of specific issues such as the 1937 Nanking massacre, during which China claims that Japanese troops killed as many as 300 000 civilians, as well as recent denials that Japan’s military forced tens of thousands of Asian women into sexual slavery in the 1930s and 40s.
”[His] speech was very positive, and I thought it was good that he made forward-looking remarks on a broad range of issues,” Yasuhisa Shiozaki, the chief Cabinet secretary, said.
Wen did not say how Japan should attempt to make amends for atrocities committed during its 1937/45 occupation of large parts of China but, shortly before his visit, he urged the Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, not to pay his respects at Yasukuni shrine, which honours Japan’s war dead, including 14 class A war criminals.
Abe’s predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi, sent Sino-Japanese ties into freefall with his annual pilgrimages to Yasukuni. Abe paid his respects there in secret last spring but has refused to say whether he would make further visits since becoming leader last October.
Wen is proving the consummate diplomat. This morning he donned a Beijing Olympics 2008 tracksuit and chatted to fellow joggers in Tokyo’s Yoyogi park before joining a tai-chi session. On Friday he will play baseball with students in western Japan before returning to Beijing.
This afternoon he was almost poetic in his analysis of China’s often difficult relations with Japan. ”The development of our relations has gone through tempests and twists and turns,” he said, ”but the foundation of our friendship is unshakeable just like Mount Tai and Mount Fuji.”
In the afternoon he met business leaders from both countries and urged Japanese firms to continue investing in China, which including Hong Kong is Japan’s biggest trading partner, with two-way trade worth $240-billion last year.
China is also keen to take advantage of Japanese expertise in clean energy to promote sustainable economic growth at home. ”China must build a society that conserves its resources and protects its environment,” Wen said.
He suggested China may soften its opposition to Japan’s bid for a permanent seat on the UN security council, but warned it not to interfere in the issue of Taiwanese sovereignty by courting the island’s pro-independence politicians.
”We will strive with all our might to achieve peaceful resolution of the Taiwan issue, but we will never tolerate Taiwan independence,” he said.
”We hope that Japan can understand the highly sensitive nature of the Taiwan issue, abide by its pledges and handle the issue prudently.” – Guardian Unlimited Â