Japan has never in the past 1,500 years had a smooth relationship with China, Japanese deputy prime minister Taro Aso was quoted Sunday as saying during a visit to India.
"India shares a land border with China, and Japan has had maritime contacts (with China), but for the past 1,500 years and more there has never been a history when our relations with China went extremely smoothly," Aso said, according to the Nikkei and the Sankei Shimbun newspapers.
The comments Saturday at a meeting with Indian business people in New Delhi came amid continuing tensions between Japan and China over disputed Tokyo-controlled islands in the East China Sea.
Aso, a former prime minister, made the comment in response to a suggestion that Japan and India should strengthen defence and maritime cooperation since both have territorial disputes with China, the Sankei said.
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