Vice President Zeng Qinghong urged the people of China and Japan to join efforts to normalize bilateral ties. He said this during a meeting with a delegation from the Japanese Social Democratic Party (SDP) led by party leader, Mizuho Fukushima, yesterday in Beijing.

Chinese and Japanese should work together to conquer difficulties so as to promote the development of bilateral ties and ensure that the two countries are friendly from generation to generation, Zeng said.

"The China-Japan relationship is currently faced with serious difficulties and China is not the one who should shoulder the responsibility," he said.

He said the visits of Japanese leaders to the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors convicted class-A World War II criminals along with other war-dead, have seriously hurt Chinese people's feelings and impaired the political foundation of Sino-Japanese ties.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited the shrine in October, the fifth time since he took office in April 2001.

Describing China and Japan as close neighbors and countries of great regional influence, Zeng said the development of Sino-Japanese relations concerns not only the fundamental interests of the two peoples but also the prosperity and stability of Asia, and the whole world.

China values relations with Japan, he said, expressing the hope that the two countries bear in mind the three political documents reached between the two countries and realize peaceful coexistence, friendship, reciprocal cooperation and common development with the attitude of taking history as a mirror and looking forward to the future.

He also expressed his appreciation to the SDP, saying that it has played an active role in promoting the friendly cooperation between China and Japan.

He said the Communist Party of China (CPC) will join efforts with the Japanese party to push forward Sino-Japanese ties.

Fukushima said the Japanese leaders' visits to the Yasukuni Shrine are a major obstacle to the healthy development of bilateral ties and her party is firmly opposed to it.

She said the SDP believes that Japan should face up to its historical responsibility and adhere to peaceful development.

She said the relations between Japan and China are important and her party will continue making efforts to promote bilateral cooperation.

Tomiichi Murayama, Japan's former prime minister who was at the meeting as an advisor to the Japanese delegation, said the friendship between Japan and China was established and cultivated by the older generations of leaders and efforts should be made to bring the bilateral ties back to normal.

Wang Jiarui, head of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, also met with the delegation yesterday to urge Japanese politicians and parties to seek an appropriate solution to the crucial problem in bilateral relations.

The China-Japan relationship is currently confronted with difficulties, he said. Both Chinese and Japanese politicians and political parties should have a good overall view of the situation if they are to handle the difficulties in a responsible manner and with long-term perspective.

Murayama said the SDP and Japanese media shoulder the responsibility of helping the youth to acquire more knowledge about history as well as the harm and damage the war brought to both countries.

(Xinhua News Agency December 8, 2005)