A group of former Chinese diplomats are giving a speech tour in Chinese universities to help officials and students correctly understand Sino-Japanese relations, according to official sources.

The speech tour, launched by the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, started on April 19 and will last six days with stopovers in Tianjin, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Chengdu and Beijing, the official source said.

The series of speeches is meant to make government and CPC officials and students of higher learning institutes correctly understand the current international situation, the history and present situation of the Sino-Japanese relations as well as China's policy toward Japan.

Speakers of the group said Japan is an important neighbor of China, and the interests of the two countries have been intertwined with each other. Such a trend will continue in the context of economic globalization.

They said the friendly coexistence and win-win cooperation between China and Japan is the only correct choice in serving the fundamental interests of the two peoples.

Wu Jianmin, president of China Foreign Affairs University and former Chinese ambassador to France, said in his report in Tianjin Tuesday and Wednesday that the negative sides of Japan's policy toward China in recent years have gradually emerged. Its wrong attitude and actions in a number of issues, including the history issue, deeply hurt the national feeling of the Chinese people and complicated Sino-Japanese relations. It also aroused strong displeasure of peoples in Asian countries, including China.

Wu also urged people to express their feelings in an lawful and orderly way and not participate in unapproved demonstrations or activities that may affect social stability.

In Shanghai, former Chinese ambassador to Japan Yang Zhenye on Wednesday reviewed the development of Sino-Japanese relations and elaborated the Chinese government's attitude toward the Sino-Japanese relations, aiming at helping students to have a better understanding of the situation. More than 1,100 educators and student representatives attended the report.

Also on Wednesday, Xu Dunxin, former deputy foreign minister and former Chinese ambassador to Japan, told more than 6,000 students from over 40 universities and colleges in Guangdong Province that the Chinese people have friendly feelings towards the Japanese people.

He said while inheriting the good-neighborly and friendly policy toward Japan, the two countries should co-exist peacefully, develop friendship for generations to come, carry out mutually beneficial cooperation and seek common development.

(Xinhua News Agency April 21, 2005)