"Candid exchanges" crucial to China-Japan ties: former ambassador

China and Japan need to continue candid exchanges to smooth over thorny security and diplomatic issues and achieve mutual understanding.

This was the consensus from the two countries' political and security opinion leaders during the Beijing-Tokyo Forum, which ended Tuesday.

"Long-term cooperation and friendship is the only choice for both countries" against the backdrop of a globalized world, Yuji Miyamoto, former Japanese ambassador to China, said in a keynote speech at the forum's closing session, quoting an ancient Chinese proverb, "Cooperation benefits both while confrontation can only hurt."

"By placing China-Japan relations in the international setting, Japan wants to play its role not only as an economic power but also a political power in the world," Chen Jian, former Chinese ambassador to Japan, said in response to a question from China Daily at the press conference following the forum's closing.

"China welcomes this, believing that a peaceful co-existence will help ensure not only a win-win outcome but also prosperity of Asia," Chen said.

The forum participants - many of them former diplomats or researchers involved in the military and security fields - made the best of the forum to speak openly about political and security issues that have created distrust and misunderstanding between the two peoples.

Among the issues were how to handle the triangular relationships among China, Japan and the United States, and what effect China-US woes could exert upon China-Japan relations.

"We recognize that our relations with the United States and other Asian countries also impact Japan-China ties," Yasushi Akashi, former United Nations' Under-Secretary-General, said.

"The Chinese side believes that the triangular relations among China, Japan and the United States are stable at present, and China has no intention of challenging the US as the sole superpower in the world," said Wu Jinan, senior researcher of the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies and the Chinese moderator for the security talks.

"However, China will not tolerate US interference (in its regional affairs)," Wu said.

The other issues range from the Taiwan question, the nuclear issue involving the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, territorial disputes in the South China Sea, and the transparency of China's military build-up.


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