BEIJING – The slowing growth, as evidenced by the new gross domestic product target — the lowest in 11 years — has been termed as a “new normal” by the Chinese leadership, which is saying the time is ripe for the world’s second-largest economy to transition from the quantity to the quality of development.
A disagreement between China and Japan about whether Japan has properly atoned for World War II-era atrocities has long poisoned ties.
A row over a chain of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea that both countries claim, has also long fueled friction.
The two sides signaled a willingness to move past the row over the islands, known in China as the Diaoyus and in Japan as the Senkakus, in November when they acknowledged they held differing views on the long-standing dispute.
China has also been particularly angered by visits by Japanese government ministers, including Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, to the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, which China sees as a symbol of Japan’s past militarism.
Yasukuni honors millions of war dead, including wartime leaders convicted as war criminals by an Allied tribunal.
Parliament panel to meet
Japan and China are making preparations to hold a meeting of their parliamentary exchange commission in Tokyo in April for the first time in about three years, diplomatic sources said.
Before the meeting of the Japan-China Parliamentary Exchange Commission, an official forum for inter-parliamentary exchanges between the House of Representatives and China’s National People’s Congress, the secretaries-general of Japan’s ruling parties — the Liberal Democratic Party’s Sadakazu Tanigaki and Komeito’s Yoshihisa Inoue — are expected to visit China from March 23 to 25, the sources said Saturday.
These moves suggest progress is being made toward normalizing bilateral parliamentary exchanges after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping finally held their first summit in November, marking a slight thaw in bilateral ties frozen by historical and territorial disputes.
For the meeting in April, senior executives of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, China’s parliament, are expected to visit Tokyo to meet senior officials of the Lower House, possibly including Speaker Nobutaka Machimura.
The Japan-China Parliamentary Exchange Commission had held meetings almost annually since 2005 to discuss political and economic matters, but the exchanges were suspended after the last meeting in Beijing in January 2012.KYODO, REUTERS
Premier Li Keqiang on Sunday urged Japan to squarely face its past militarism and said this year, marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, will be a test for bilateral relations.
“The crux of the issue is how the war and that part of history are viewed. We need to take history as a mirror and look to the future,” Li said at a press conference in Beijing to wrap up an annual meeting of the National People’s Congress, the country’s top legislature.
“The war of aggression imposed on the Chinese by the Japanese militarists brought so much suffering. This year will be a test and an opportunity for China-Japan relations,” Li said.
Li said the purpose of a series of events, including a military parade, this year in China to mark the anniversary of the conflict, or what it calls the war against Japanese aggression, is “to bear in mind the lessons of the past and ensure history will not repeat itself.”
Li said he believes bilateral relations and trade will grow further if Japanese political leaders have the same spirit to learn from the past.
During China’s most important public political event of the year, the rubber-stamp parliament approved the Communist Party-controlled government’s set of policies for 2015.
Li delivered the major policies at the opening of the meeting March 5, which include a target of 7 percent for economic growth and a plan to boost military spending by 10.1 percent.
This year’s annual parliament session was held at a time when the government is grappling with a slowdown in the economy while, at the same time, trying harder to boost its global influence under President Xi Jinping’s campaign to achieve the “dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.”
Chinese Premier Li calls 2015 a test year for relations with Japan | The Japan Times
