Chinese PM offers friendship to Japan
Afp, Tokyo
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao offered Japan the hand of friendship Thursday in a call to put aside bitter memories of the past that have hobbled relations between the two Asian giants. In the first address for 22 years by a Chinese leader to the parliament in Tokyo, Wen urged Japan not to forget its past but acknowledged its people had also been the victims of war. Earlier, he took his fence-mending visit to Japan to the streets, going for a jog around a Tokyo park and chatting with members of the public. In parliament, the flags of the two countries mounted on the podium behind, Wen called on the two powers to look to the future. "The Chinese public must foster friendship with Japanese people," he said, and laid the blame for Japan's invasion and 1931-1945 occupation of China -- a running sore for many Chinese -- on a "limited number" of wartime leaders.
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Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao (L) shakes hands with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe prior to a high-level economic dialogue between the two nations in Tokyo yesterday. Wei, who is in the Japanese capital as part of his fence-mending visit, urged the Asian powers to resolve their disputes peacefully. PHOTO: AFP |
