BEIJING, April 30 (Xinhua) -- China on Saturday made requirements on improving bilateral relations and urged Japan to take concrete actions, during Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida's first official visit amid discord of the two countries.
China-Japan relations went through twists and turns in recent years. Bilateral relations are improving with a fragile foundation. The two countries should keep a grip on the right direction of bilateral relations with a due sense of responsibility, said Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.
Li met with Kishida in downtown Beijing on Saturday afternoon, after Kishida's talks with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his meeting with State Councilor Yang Jiechi respectively.
Li said China is willing, in the spirit of taking the history as a mirror and looking into the future, to make joint efforts with Japan to strengthen political mutual trust and promote bilateral relations back to the track of normal development.
He stressed that no ambiguity or vacillation is allowed when it comes to the matters of principle concerning the political foundation for the normalization of China-Japan relations.
The Japanese side should stick to the path of peaceful development, and match deeds with its words that China's peaceful development is an opportunity, Li said.
He urged Japan to really pursue a positive China policy, adhere to the four political documents between the two countries, and appropriately handle the sensitive elements having fundamental impacts on bilateral relations.
The four documents refer to the China-Japan Joint Statement inked in 1972, the China-Japan Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1978, the China-Japan Joint Declaration of 1998, and the joint statement on advancing strategic and mutually-beneficial relations in a comprehensive way signed in 2008.
Read the full story at Xinhua