Japan should face up to history, take the responsibility, and seriously view and properly handle the issue of "comfort women", Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing said at a press conference Tuesday.

He made the remarks on the sidelines of the Fifth Session of the Tenth National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature.

It is a historical fact that "comfort women" issue is a serious crime committed by Japanese troops during the World War II, said Li.

The Japanese government should take history as a mirror and look forward to the future to properly handle the China-Japanese relations.

This year marks the 35th anniversary of the normalization of bilateral diplomatic ties, the two sides should grasp this important opportunity to handle well the fundamental political issues concerning bilateral relationship and to expand and deepen exchanges and cooperation, Li said.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Monday that Japan would not offer any new apology over the wartime sex slavery issue after he told reporters that "there is no evidence to prove there was coercion" exercised over the foreign women.

It is estimated that during World War II, some 200,000 Asian women were forcibly drafted into the Japanese Imperial Army to serve as sex slaves. Surviving comfort women have demanded apology and compensation from the Japanese government.

(Xinhua News Agency March 6, 2007)