Ｆｏｒｍｅｒ Ｊａｐａｎｅｓｅ Ｐｒｉｍｅ Ｍｉｎｉｓｔｅｒ Ｔｏｍｉｉｃｈｉ Ｍｕｒａｙａｍａａｎｄ Ｈｉｓ Ｐａｒｔｙ ｉｎ Ｂｅｉｊｉｎｇ

Murayama Giving Lecture

At the invitation of the China-Japan Friendship Association (CJFA)， Tomiichi Murayama， former Japanese prime minister and honorary adviser to the Japan-China Friendship Association (JCFA)， led a JCFA delegation to visit Beijing from February 2 to 6， 2004. In his lecture at the auditorium of the CPAFFC on February 3， Tomiichi Murayama said， Japan and China should develop friendly relations in the new century in accordance with the principles set in the three political documents， i.e. the Sino-Japanese Joint Statement， the Sino-Japanese Peace and Friendship Treaty and the Sino-Japanese Joint Declaration， and in the spirit of using history as a mirror and looking to the future. The two countries should increase cultural exchanges and enhance trust and understanding between the two peoples. Murayama made the remark in his lecture entitled Murayama’s Statements and Japan-China Relations， the first of a series of Lectures on Friendship and Peace held by the CPAFFC in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the CPAFFC.

In his lecture Tomiichi Murayama recalled his formal statement on behalf of the Japanese Government on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in 1995 when he served as Japanese prime minister， admitting that “Japan’s colonial rule and aggression had caused tremendous losses and sufferings to the people of Asian countries”， and expressing “deep remorse and sincere apologies”. He said， only by handling the problems left by history with sincerity and valuing the role of the Constitution of Peace， can Japan establish mutual understanding and trust with other countries.

Murayama continued， since the normalization of Japan-China diplomatic relations， friendly personages of the older generation of the two countries have made great achievements in enhancing mutual understanding and trust between the two peoples and contributions to establishing a good Japan-China relations and the peace in Asia and the world. In the past more than 30 years， Japan-China relations have seen great development in various fields. Rich and colourful activities have been carried out in the exchanges between the two countries in the fields of economy， society， culture， education， science， technology， sports， environment， etc. Particularly， increasingly expanding bilateral economic and trade ties are becoming closer and closer. Up to now China has been Japan’s second largest trade target country， while Japan China’s largest trade partner for 11 consecutive years. In 2002 the volume of bilateral trade reached US$ 101.6 billion. Since the normalization of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 1972， the bilateral trade volume has been up 92 times. The volume in 2003 is expected to exceed US$ 130 billion.

He stressed， people-to-people exchanges are the basis of Japan-China friendship and should be further expanded and deepened. The development of the exchanges between more than 200 pairs of friendship cities twinned between the two countries and between personnel of these cities will surely further promote mutual understanding between the two countries.

Murayama also pointed out in his lecture， while Japan-China relations have made outstanding development， there still exist worrying problems. Defying the opposition raised by the people of Asian countries， some Japanese leaders have visited the Yasukuni Shrine many times. The Chinese people express their strong indignation and condemnation. He said， Japan should take into consideration the feelings of the Asian people who had suffered greatly under Japan’s colonial rule and during its war of aggression. Under the current international situation Japan’s attitude towards the responsibility of the war and history is being tested. Japan should settle the problems left by history with sincerity so as to remove Asian countries’， especially its neighbors’， distrust.

Upon closing his lecture， Tomiichi Murayama who will soon be eighty years old， expressed his earnest hope that the younger generation of the two countries would take the relay baton from the older generation， and continue their efforts to enhance the profound friendship between the two countries and develop solid bilateral relations.

Ikuo Hirayama， president of the JCFA， and the JCFA delegation he led， members of the CPAFFC and CJFA， and personages of various circles attended the lecture.

Chinese Vice President Zeng QinghongMeeting with Murayama and Hirayama

On the afternoon of February 4， Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong met with visiting former Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayam， JCFA President Ikuo Hirayama and his party in the Great Hall of the People. CPAFFC President Chen Haosu and Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi were present at the meeting.

During the meeting Tomiichi Murayam said， since its founding， regardless of the opposition expressed by the domestic and the international public opinion， for four consecutive years the Koizumi Cabinet paid homage to the Yasukuni Shrine where memorial tablets of top war criminals were enshrined， seriously hurting the feelings of the peoples of China and other Asian countries who had suffered during the Japanese war of aggression， and making the heads of the two governments unable to exchange visits for several years and causing an abnormal situation of cold political， but hot economic relations. However， in Japan both the government and the people hope that Japan and China will keep friendly relations. The successive Japanese governments have all followed the Murayama Statement I made in 1995. The Japanese nongovernmental friendship-with-China organizations including the JCFA are all actively pushing forward Japan-China relations， and sincerely wish that Japan-China political relations could be normalized as soon as possible.

Vice President Zeng Qinghong said， the development of Sino-Japanese relations， on the whole， is good. Particularly since the normalization of bilateral diplomatic relations in 1972， through the concerted efforts made by the governments and peoples of the two countries， remarkable achievements have been made in the cooperation in the political， economic， cultural， educational， scientific and technological and other fields. Economic and trade cooperation and exchanges of personnel have increased by hundreds of times as against those at the time when the two countries normalized their relations.

Zeng continued， while seeing the development of Sino-Japanese relations， we should also see there still exist quite a few problems in the bilateral relations， the key ones still being the history and Taiwan issues. Prime Minister Koizumi’s successive visits to the Yasukuni Shrine have obstructed China-Japan relations. We have always stressed that the history issue should be properly settled in the spirit of “drawing lessons from history and looking to the future” and in accordance with the principles set in the Sino-Japanese Joint Statement and other two documents. We appreciate the Murayama Statement made by Mr. Murayama in 1995. Since Mr. Murayama can do it， why cannot some other Japanese leaders do it? As long as both sides make joint efforts， there will be a way to solve the problem.

Zeng also pointed out， the Taiwan issue is China’s internal affairs， a problem left by the Chinese civil war， and also a question of principle. Japan should abide by the principles and spirit of the three political documents and properly deal with the problems relating to Taiwan. We highly appreciate Mr. Murayama’s and Mr. Hirayama’s just attitudes towards the Taiwan issue. We hope to exert our utmost to peacefully solve the Taiwan problem， but， we will also at all cost uphold China’s reunification， because a country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity are not allowed to be carved up.