Agence France-Presse,
Visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao Thursday extended an offer of friendship to Japan, striking a conciliatory tone on wartime history — an issue that has dogged relations for years.
Wen, making the first address to the Japanese parliament by a Chinese leader in more than two decades as part of his fence-mending visit, urged the Asian powers to resolve their disputes peacefully.
“The Chinese public must foster friendship with Japanese people,” he said, the flags of the two countries waving behind the podium.
Wen, the first Chinese premier to visit Tokyo in seven years, laid the blame for Japan's invasion and 1931-1945 occupation of China — still a bitter memory for many Chinese — on the shoulders of a “limited number” of wartime leaders.
He acknowledged that Japanese leaders have apologised for the war, and that the people of Japan suffered too.
“As the Chinese leaders of the past generations have said, the responsibility for the war of aggression should rest with a limited number of militarists,” Wen said.
“The general Japanese public were also victims of the war.”
Relations between Asia's two largest economies were badly strained during the 2001-2006 tenure of Japanese premier Junichiro Koizumi, who repeatedly visited a war shrine that Beijing and Seoul associate with imperialism.
Just days after taking over from Koizumi, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe — who made his career as a hardliner on emotive history issues — went to Beijing in October.
In a possible warning to Abe not to visit the Yasukuni shrine in future, Wen said he expected Japan to continue to show regret for the past.
“Japanese leaders have expressed their views on history time and time again. They admitted the invasion and expressed their deep regret and apologies to the countries that fell victims,” Wen said.
“The Chinese government and the public appreciate that profoundly. We hope Japan will turn the expression into action as promised,” he said.
Wen, who met Abe Wednesday for a dinner of sushi and Japanese beef, told Japanese lawmakers Thursday that while their prime minister's visit to Beijing had broken the ice, he aimed to “melt” the ice with his trip to Tokyo.
The Chinese premier did his best to take his message of friendship to the public, taking an early morning jog before his address to parliament.
Sporting black sportswear bearing logos for next year's Beijing Olympics, the 64-year-old Wen jogged around a Tokyo park, chatted with members of the public and showed off a few tai chi moves.
“What do you do for a living?” Wen asked one woman through a translator, as security guards looked on.
“I am a barber,” she replied in Japanese.
“I am Wen Jiabao,” he said.
Despite tension over the past, China and Japan have become increasingly economically interlinked, with Japan counting on its giant neighbour as a vital source both for workers and for middle-class consumers.
Wen told parliament he understood “Japan's desire to play a yet greater role” in the world.
China, the only Asian nation with veto power on the UN Security Council, in 2005 scuttled Japan's cherished bid for a permanent seat on the prestigious body, saying Tokyo had not atoned for past atrocities.
China's campaign against Japan's Security Council bid enraged conservative leaders in Tokyo, who accused Beijing of whipping up animosity and not showing gratitude for Japan's aid to China after the war.
But Wen thanked Japan, saying, “The Chinese people will forever remember the support and aid that Japan provided.”
“China-Japan relations have come under rains and winds. But the foundation of the friendly ties between the Chinese and Japanese people are as unshakable as Mount Tai and Mount Fuji.”
