It is practical and significant to stress the role of the three political documents between China and Japan as the cornerstone for bilateral ties during this difficult time for Sino-Japanese relations, experts said in Beijing Thursday.  

"The Japanese government should strictly abide by the Sino-Japanese Joint Statement, the Peace and Friendship Treaty and the Sino-Japanese Joint Declaration, and take specific actions to forge a friendly and cooperative relationship with China facing the 21st century," President Hu Jintao said when he initiated the proposal on developing Sino-Japanese relations at a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on the sideline of the Asian-African Summit in Jakarta.

All these three documents, though they target different issues, share a common essence and serve as the political foundation for Sino-Japanese relations, said Liu Jiangyong, a professor of international relations with the prestigious Tsinghua University in Beijing.

The joint statement in 1972 paved the way for the two sides to realize the normalization of bilateral ties; the treaty in 1978 put in law, for the first time, the general direction of peaceful coexistence and lasting friendship between the two countries; and the joint declaration in 1998 clearly stated that the two sides would build a friendly and cooperative partnership.

"Considered from this point, these three documents all emphasize the importance of Sino-Japanese friendly relations," Liu said, noting that this spirit should be carried forward by both sides.

Based on these three documents, China and Japan have witnessed substantial progress in cooperation with mutual benefits in various fields, especially in economy and trade. The bilateral trade volume between China and Japan has risen 160 fold from that 33 years ago, reaching US$167.8 billion in 2004. China and Japan have become the largest import countries of origin for each other. Japan is China's third largest export market, and China is Japan's second largest export market.

"Japan and China have made great achievements in bilateral economic cooperation," said Saito Keisuke, head of the Beijing office of the Japan-China Economic Association.

Keisuke said that if economic relations were affected by certain reasons, it would be harmful for both sides and for the world at large.

Chinese leaders have stressed the three documents on different occasions. In the year marking the 25th anniversary of the treaty, President Hu told visiting Japanese guests that "practice has proved that when both sides followed the principles of the three important documents governing bilateral relations, Sino-Japanese relations would develop smoothly; otherwise, the relationship would suffer setbacks."

"The reason why China attaches such great importance to the three documents is that all these documents have clearly outlined the principles for handling history and Taiwan issues, which are the major concerns of the Chinese people," said Yang Bojiang, an expert on Japanese studies with China Institute of Contemporary International Relations.

The Japanese side said in the joint declaration that Japan feels "profoundly sorry for the severe disasters and damages that the Japanese aggression had inflicted on the Chinese people." Japan also promised in the same document to "abide by its one-China stance" and to "maintain only unofficial and regional contacts with Taiwan."

However, according to the Chinese experts, the Japanese government has "repeatedly violated its commitments" and "failed the trust of the Chinese people" over the past years. Its oral expression of its willingness to abide by the principles in the three documents has become "empty lip service," the experts say.

Koizumi has visited the Yasukuni Shrine, where 14 Class-A war criminals of WWII are honored, four times; Japan allowed former Taiwan leader Lee Teng-hui to visit the country last December; this year Japan approved a textbook that whitewashes Japan's history of aggression, and included Taiwan in the framework of its security alliance with the United States.

"All these actions break principles of the three political documents," said Yao Wenli, an expert with the Institute of Japanese Studies of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Yao said this was the major element leading to the recent tensions in Sino-Japanese relations.

"Therefore, it is practical and significant nowadays to put forward these three documents once again, with a purpose to help the Sino-Japanese relations return to normal track," the expert said.

While asking Japan to abide by the three documents, President Hu also urged Japan in his proposal to take specific actions to forge a friendly and cooperative relationship with China in the 21st century.

"It indicates that China attaches great importance to developing friendly ties with Japan," Yang Bojiang said.

China and Japan should, with the spirit of taking history as a mirror and looking forward into the future, abide by the three documents, properly solve disagreements through dialogue, expand exchanges and cooperation in various fields, and push bilateral relations towards healthy and steady development, the expert said.

(Xinhua News Agency April 29, 2005)