Ａｐｐｅａｌ ｆｏｒ Ｐｅａｃｅ ａｎｄ Ｇｏｏｄ－Ｎｅｉｇｈｂｏｕｒｌｉｎｅｓｓ

This year， which marks the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World War， is a very important year for China-Japan relations.In a period of the past， Japan launched war and through its colonial rule and aggression brought tremendous loss and suffering to the people of China and other Asian countries， and the Japanese people also greatly suffered from it. After the war， Japan embarked on the road of peaceful development， which has brought about today’s prosperity. Both the Chinese and Japanese people who have suffered from the war yearn for an international environment of lasting peace. We must learn lessons from history， continue to stick to the road of peaceful development and maintain friendship from generation to generation.

In the past more than 30 years since the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan， thanks to the concerted efforts of the governments and people of various circles of the two countries， the bilateral relations have made steady progress and remarkable results have been achieved in the exchanges and cooperation in various fields between the two countries. Last year bilateral trade volume surpassed 160 billion US dollars. Personnel exchanges reached over 4 million person/times. The total number of friendship cities between the two countries reached 227. Facts have proved that China-Japan friendly cooperation has not only brought substantial benefits to the two peoples， but also contributed greatly to the prosperity in East Asia， and to the development of world economy.

In view of this， it is abnormal that there appears a phenomenon of“cold political， but warm economic relations between the two countries”， which is against their interests. Looking squarely at the past and correctly understanding history are still the important basis for developing China-Japan relations. The two countries should adhere to the principles laid down in the Sino-Japanese Joint Statement， the Sino-Japanese Peace and Friendship Treaty and the Sino-Japanese Joint Declaration， and uphold the spirit of “using history as a mirror and looking to the future” and through friendly negotiation properly handle the problems， differences and disputes between the two countries and the two peoples.

China-Japan friendship， in the final analysis， is the friendship between the peoples of the two countries. We are highly concerned about growing estrangement between the people of the two countries in recent years. We strongly appeal the governments and various circles of the two countries to take actions to put an end to the current difficult situation through expanding exchanges between the two sides. We hope that the two sides will proceed from China-Japan friendship， create conditions for realizing exchange of visits by the heads of state of the two countries and make the year 2005 a year of pushing forward peace， good-neighbourliness and friendly cooperation between the two countries in the new century.

The non-governmental organizations of the two countries should give full play to the advantages of people-to-people contacts， and carry out various kinds of exchanges with rich contents in the fields of politics， economy， science， technology， culture， information， sports， education， religion， tourism as well as exchanges between women， youth and local governments so as to enhance mutual understanding and trust between the two peoples， and give correct guidance to the public opinion in each country.

We should carry forward and develop the tradition of friendship， further implement the Declaration on Promoting Sino-Japanese People’s Friendship in the New Century jointly issued by the Chinese and Japanese non-governmental organizations and the Appeal for China-Japan Friendship issued on the 30th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan， train successors to the cause of Sino-Japanese friendship， strengthen exchanges and cooperation and jointly make contributions to peace and prosperity of Asia and the world at large.