Japan and China should enhance cultural exchanges and make efforts to develop their bilateral relations in an all-round way in the new century, said former Japanese Prime Minister Murayama Tomiichi in Beijing Tuesday.  

While giving a speech on Japan-China relations to the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, Murayama said that friendly personages of the two countries had made great contributions to the promotion of mutual understanding and trust since the normalization of diplomatic ties in the early 1970s.

With the joint efforts of the two sides, he said, Sino-Japanese relations have developed smoothly in many areas, including economy, society, culture, education, technology and sports.

The bilateral trade and economic ties have also made fruitful achievements, he said. At present, China is the second-largest trade partner of Japan, and Japan has been the biggest trade partner of China for 11 successive years.

Murayama said that in 2002 the bilateral trade volume reached US$101.6 billion. The figure is expected to exceed US$130 billion in 2003.

Besides the economic field, non-governmental contacts of various forms between the two countries have scored remarkable results, and have laid a solid foundation for the improvement of Sino-Japanese relations, he said. The number of visitors between the two countries increased from 8,990 in 1972 to 3.26 million in 2002.

The increase and development of personal exchanges will further promote the mutual understanding between the two countries, he said.

Murayama said that although Sino-Japanese relations have developed rapidly in recent years, problems exist. He said some leader of the Japanese government have visited the Yasukuni Shrinethat honors Class-A war criminals several times, which seriously hurt the feelings of the Chinese people and people of other Asian nations.

He said the Japanese government should take into consideration the feelings of other Asian peoples, who suffered severely from Japan's colonial dominion and aggressive war, and take history as a mirror and look to the future.

Murayama said that in the current international situation Japan should handle the issue of history appropriately and with the utmost sincerity, so as to build mutual understanding and trust with other Asian countries.

(Xinhua News Agency February 4, 2004)