China's ambassador to Japan said Japan should respect and follow the political agreements the two countries have reached already that provide the foundations for bilateral relations.

In an exclusive interview with China.org.cn, Ambassador Cheng Yonghua said both China and Japan should honor the four-point principled agreement reached in 2014 and four previous political documents from 1972, 1978, 1998 and 2008, which are foundations for political mutual trust.

Cheng, a member of the 12th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), is in Beijing attending the annual session of the top Chinese political advisory body, which will close on March 14.

In the joint statement between the two governments on the comprehensive promotion of a mutually beneficial relationship based on common strategic interests in 2008, Cheng said, the two sides recognized that they are cooperative partners who are not threats to each other and again stated that they would support each other's peaceful development”.

“This has already set the tone and goal of bilateral relations. Both sides should work hard toward that direction," Cheng said.

Sino-Japanese relations have deteriorated due to the Diaoyu Islands issue since 2012 and have struggled to recover. In latest news, China and Japan's warships confronted each other in February. Later, Chinese reports clarified that the "Chinese warships" were actually Coast Guard patrol ships. Cheng said the details in the news reports were not true, but stressed that "We did have been taking measures to protect and maintain our sovereignty. Our vessels are still patrolling there, and we remain firm in this stance.

“However, the issue cannot be resolved immediately, so the two sides need more dialogues to further address the problems as outlined in the four-point principled agreement.”

The Ambassador said he believed the high-level official dialogues, such as China's State Councilor Yang Jiechi meeting with the head of Japan's National Security Council Shotaro Yachi last year, mattered.

"It is a very important channel for the two nations to communicate. We have many issues, but we are neighbors who cannot move away from each other. We have to have dialogues to deal with or take control of some issues and disputes."

The ambassador also hoped the civil communications and people-to-people exchanges could continue. "Before China and Japan form any diplomatic relationship, we had non-governmental exchanges and friendly voices were heard that pushed forward the normalization of two countries and helped establish the diplomatic relationship. There is an old Chinese saying: 'The relationship between two countries is based on the affection between people.’ We should continue promoting people-to-people exchanges and enhance mutual understanding."

Cheng further stated that China and Japan's economic relations remain on a high level, which is also a highlight of the overall strategic relationship. "Though the relationship has suffered great difficulties, in recent years, the trade volume has stayed above US $300 billion. Last year, the trade volume did fall to US $278.6 billion, but this was still a high level.

“Japan has cut some investments in China in the past two years, but the scale is still large. We hope we can continue the trend of economic exchanges and cooperation, because we cannot leave each other and must reach a win-win situation. This cooperation will benefit the two countries' development and extend our common interests."

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