The Foreign Ministry
said yesterday Japan's wrong words and actions toward the issues of
Taiwan and history are the major factors leading to the poor
sentiment between the people of the two countries.
Referring to a recent survey conducted by a Japanese Cabinet
Office in October, which concluded that the Japanese people's
friendly feelings toward China are at a record low, the ministry's
spokesperson Qin Gang said the causes of the deteriorating
sentiment are "multi-sided."
"But the fundamental reason is that the Japanese government
adopts wrong words and actions toward Taiwan and history," he said
at a regular press conference.
In a Japanese Cabinet Office poll released last weekend, only
32.4 percent of respondents said they had friendly feelings toward
China, down 5.2 points from last year's figure, an apparent
reflection of the icy diplomatic ties between the Asian
neighbors.
Such a major drop in feelings is not good for both countries,
former Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura told a Japanese
television program on Sunday.
"We hope the Japanese side could do something conducive to the
friendship of the two peoples and take concrete measures to change
the situation," Qin said.
Relations between Beijing and Tokyo have soured as Japanese
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has visited the Yasukuni Shrine, a
symbol of Japan's militarism, every year since he took office in
2001.
Responding to a Japanese media report that a Japanese consular
official who committed suicide in Shanghai last year was threatened
by Chinese intelligence officials to disclose national secrets, Qin
said the report is "groundless."
Masaharu Kono, director-general of the Foreign Policy Bureau of
Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, met Chinese Vice Foreign
Minister Qiao
Zonghuai in Beijing Monday and both exchanged views over the
reform of the UN Security Council. Japan has been seeking a
permanent seat on the UN's most powerful council.
During the meeting, Qiao reaffirmed that the current pressing
tasks are to implement the outcome documents finalized at the UN's
60th anniversary summit, to push for progress in areas where common
ground has been reached, and to give top priority to the
development issue, according to the spokesperson.
"China insists on a position that the reform of the Security
Council should give priority to increasing representations of
developing countries, especially African countries," Qin said,
adding broad consensus should be reached on the basis of democratic
discussions and consultations.
"China opposes forced voting on any resolution where differences
still exist, and China's stance on UN reform has not changed," he
said.
Turning to the Korean Peninsular nuclear issue, Qin said the
specific date for the second phase of the fifth-round
six-party talks has not been decided.
He said the Chinese side is currently negotiating with the other
five parties over the specific date in the hope of reopening the
talks at an early date.
"To denuclearize the Korean Peninsula and ensure peace and
stability there is in the interests of all parties to the talks,"
he said.
Qin urged all parties concerned to take the overall situation
into account and solve relevant problems through negotiation and
consultation so as to increase mutual understanding and trust and
create a favorable atmosphere for the progress in the talks.
The six-party talks entered a fifth round in November. The six
parties -- China, the US, Russia, Japan, North and South Korea --
agreed in a chairman's document on November 11 to hold the
second-phase meeting at the earliest possible date.
Moving on to the challenge of bird flu, Qin said China will
continue to strengthen cooperation with the world community to deal
with it.
China advocates that cooperation should be carried out through
international mechanisms so as to combat the spread of bird flu, he
said.
Meanwhile, China holds international cooperation should be
conducted in such areas as bird flu epidemiology, virus testing and
monitoring and the establishment of a bird flu laboratory network,
he added.
Asian countries and the world community should share information
and promote technical exchanges so as to explore new methods to
control the disease, he said.
Concerning China's newly produced live vaccine against bird flu,
he said it was encouraging and gratifying news provided the vaccine
can really help to prevent the disease's spread.
When commenting on Bolivian president's intention to visit next
month, Qin said Bolivia is a friendly country of China and China
values relations with it.
China is willing to maintain friendly exchanges and cooperation
with Bolivia in various fields on the basis of the Five Principles
of Peaceful Coexistence, he said.
China hopes to push forward bilateral relations to develop in a
healthy and stable manner, he added.
(Xinhua News Agency, China Daily December 28, 2005)