By Shannon Tiezzi
A four-point consensus issued after a high-level China-Japan meeting promises to restore bilateral relations.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping have yet to meet, but the real breakthrough in China-Japan relations has already occurred. On Friday, Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi and Japanese National Security chief Shotaro Yachi jointly issued a four-point consensus on improving China-Japan ties. The text is available from Xinhua and from Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (with some interesting differences in the English translations, which I’ll discuss below).
The first point was simply China and Japan’s pledge to “continue to develop a mutually beneficial relationship based on common strategic interests.” Both sides reconfirmed their commitment to the “four basic documents” issued between China and Japan, which have served as the basis for China-Japan relations since the normalization of diplomatic ties in 1972. The four documents are the China-Japan Joint Statement of 1972, the China-Japan Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1978, the China-Japan Joint Declaration of 1998 and a joint statement on advancing relations in 2008. According to Tang Jiaxuan, the head of the China-Japan Friendship Association, the “spirit of the four documents includes learning from history, peaceful coexistence, mutual respect, friendship for generations, mutually beneficial cooperation and common development.”
Read the full story at The Diplomat