Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs

China and Japan are partners and pose no threat to each other, and the political consensus should be implemented in policies, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Monday while making the remarks in a video speech to a forum held on Monday to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the normalization of China-Japan diplomatic relations. 

The remarks were made at a time when Japan is seemingly moving toward a wrong direction to follow the US to contain China, observers noted.

In the speech, Wang made five suggestions to build China-Japan bilateral ties in the new era.

Wang called for the two sides to safeguard the political foundation embodied in the four political documents. "As to some historic issues and the Taiwan question, there is no room for ambiguity, not to mention retrogression," Wang noted. 

"The two countries should, in a strategic and long-term perspective, stay committed to the important consensus that they are partners and pose no threat to each other," Wang said.

Wang called for deepened cooperation between the two sides and called on Japan to safeguard smooth global production chains as well as safeguard fair and open global trade environment. 

He also called to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, bolster people-to-people exchanges. 

He also urged Japan to practice multilateralism to oppose zero-sum game and clique confrontation. 

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan. But as Japan is getting closer to the US in the intensifying international situation and helping the US to contain China, it now lacks enthusiasm to deepen cooperation with China, Zhou Yongsheng, deputy director of the Japanese Studies Center at China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Monday. 

A core point of Wang's speech is that the two countries should treat each other as partners. This would benefit not only the development of bilateral ties, but also the development of both countries, Zhou said.  

The remarks clarified the core and main direction of the two countries' bilateral ties, Zhou noted. 

There is still large space for China and Japan to cooperate, but Japan, rather than actively improving bilateral ties, is following the US to try to decouple with China. Such behavior is totally wrong, according to Zhou.

Trade volume between China and Japan has increased from $1.1 billion in 1972 to $371.4 billion in 2021, and two-way investment volume has reached nearly $130 billion. China and Japan have formed 256 pairs of sister cities and there were more than 1,400 direct flights per week pre-pandemic. The number of people-to-people exchanges exceeded 50 million before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to media reports. 

Global Times