Chinese, Japanese communities pledge to improve ties

BEIJING - Communities from China and Japan have pledged to make joint efforts to improve bilateral ties.

The pledge came from a seminar held here on Tuesday, which commemorated the 35th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship Between the People's Republic of China and Japan, as well as the 50th anniversary of China-Japan Friendship Association.

Tang Jiaxuan, head of the China-Japan Friendship Association, said the treaty confirms the principles in the Joint Statement Between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of Japan in the form of law, identifies the general direction of a longstanding China-Japan friendship, and further consolidates the political foundation for the long-term development of China-Japan relationship.

Noting that China and Japan are close neighbours, Tang said friendly communities of the two countries play an indispensable role in the development of bilateral relations.

Tang said the two sides should work on the basis of the four political documents between China and Japan and in the spirit of "taking history as a mirror and facing towards the future" to properly handle the issues in bilateral relations and push bilateral ties back to the track of normal growth.

Koichi Kato, chairman of the Japan-China Friendship Association also attended the seminar.