Japan group proposes future-oriented ties with China
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-05-10 14:01
A major Japanese business group urged Tuesday the nation's leaders to improve
relations with China in a bid to build a future-oriented relationship.
The Japan Association of Corporate Executives, or Keizai Doyukai, said in the
"Suggestions on Future Japan-China Relations" that mutual trust and respect
between both governments are indispensable to stability and prosperity of Asia
and to the world at large.
The establishment of friendly relations and development of economic and trade
cooperation not only benefit themselves and Asia, but also contribute to peace
and stability of the international community, it said.
The 13-page proposal called for efforts from both governments to improve
ties. The two governments should seek common ground while putting aside their
differences, and build a new, future-oriented relation, it said.
To ensure Japan's security and prosperity in the 21st century, maintaining
and improving friendly ties with China and other countries in East Asia is of
the same importance as maintaining the Japan-U.S. relations, the proposal said.
It is particularly important to secure and develop friendly ties with China,
which is a driving force of world economy and whose political influence is
growing, it said, urging the Japanese government to attach more importance to
its Asian diplomacy.
According to the proposal, the first step in building a future-oriented
Japan-China relationship should be creating opportunities for re-opening summit
meetings between the heads of state of both countries.
To that end, the proposal called on Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi
to reconsider his annual visit to the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine , a practice
that is the major stumbling block to bilateral ties.
The shrine honors convicted Class-A Japanese WWII war criminals along with
over 2 million war dead.
The proposal said a national and nonreligious memorial should be established.
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