On October 18, 2004, Chinese Ambassador to Japan Wang Yi held the first large-scale press conference upon the request of the Correspondents Club of Japan, elaborated the Chinese government's guidelines and policies toward Japan and its principled stances on history and the Taiwan issue, and took questions from the media. More than 200 Japanese and foreign correspondents attended the press conference.

Wang stressed that the Chinese leadership and government has always given high priority to China-Japan relations. To realize the sound development of China-Japan relations, it is hoped that both sides can "safeguard one basis and promote three objectives". The basis refers to the political basis consisting of three political documents including Sino-Japanese Joint Communiqué. An important point here is that Japan must reflect over the invasive war and stick to the one-China principle. In retrospect of the history since China and Japan resumed diplomatic ties, we can draw such a conclusion that as long as both sides safeguard the basis, bilateral relationship will witness smooth development; otherwise it will see twists and turns. Now the two sides need to review and uphold the above-mentioned principles so as to remove political obstacles and achieve sound development of bilateral relations. Wang noted that both sides need to take history as a mirror and look into the future to ensure historical experience and lessons help drive bilateral relations. The two countries need to continue their mutually beneficial cooperation and friendship to enrich the implications of bilateral friendship in a reciprocal and win-win manner. Both sides need to stick to peaceful development, jointly revitalize Asia, and identify and expand new common interests between the two countries in the new century.

While answering the question about the Yasukuni Shrine, Wang stressed the nature of the Yasukuni issue is whether Japan can handle that period of history correctly. The key is that the shrine honors 14 Class-A war criminals who initiated and commanded Japan's aggression to other countries. The general public of Japan also suffered considerably from their actions. Most of the Class-A war criminals were involved in Japan's invasion of China and some of them took important positions in the invasion army to China and committed severe crimes to the Chinese people. The worshipping of these criminals will inevitably hurt the feelings of the victims of the war, especially the Chinese people who suffered the most deeply from the hazard of militarism and shake the political basis of China-Japan relations. The Chinese people definitely cannot accept it.

Wang said we understand the Japanese culture and views on life and death. However, this issue has gone beyond Japan's internal affairs and is no more a pure question of culture. It is a serious diplomatic issue related to rights and wrongs as well as international justice. Regarding this issue, we need to consider Japan's reality. Moreover, we need to take into account the feelings of the Chinese people who have suffered substantially from the war. We need to address the issue in line with Sino-Japanese Joint Communiqué and international consensus. It is hoped that the Japanese people can understand the stance of the Chinese side and the Japanese leadership can change their attitude and stop hurting the Chinese people's feelings by approaching from the overall perspective of bilateral relations and long-term interests.

As for the issue of so-called "China's anti-Japanese education" put forward by some Japanese media, Wang pointed out that just like other countries, China also has patriotic education, but no anti-Japanese education. If there is anything targeted to Japan, it is that since the time of Mao Zetong the Chinese leaderships have been educating the Chinese people that the responsibility of the aggression to China should be borne by a handful of Japanese militarists, that the Japanese people are also victims, and that Chinese and Japanese people should be friendly to each other one generation after another. Thanks to the education on China-Japan friendship, we sent the Japanese compatriots in China back to Japan safe and sound soon after the People's Republic of China was founded. In the 1950s, the Chinese government released all war criminals who had committed crimes in China back to Japan. Thanks to the education on China-Japan friendship, a large number of Japanese orphans left in China have been brought up carefully by the Chinese people. Thanks to the education on China-Japan friendship, the two countries realized the normalization of diplomatic ties and the Chinese side gave up the demand for war reparation. In recent years, the Chinese media have published much more articles on the proposition of and introduction to China-Japan friendship than their Japanese counterparts.

Wang said the dissatisfaction of the Chinese mass mainly derives from the realistic problems between China and Japan, especially from the words and actions of Japan to deny the history and beautify the aggression. Therefore it is important that both sides handle and address historical issues correctly in the spirit of "taking history as a mirror and looking into the future". In particular, the feelings of the other party, especially the victims, should never be hurt.

While answering the question about the development of resources in the East China Sea and the delimitation of the sea, Wang said China's exploration of oil and gas in the East China Sea is all done in the undisputable Chinese offshore waters and is a matter within the Chinese sovereignty. Nevertheless, the Chinese side has approached from the overall perspective of China-Japan relations and proposed to hold consultations on the issue of the East China Sea so as to find a solution to the dispute through dialogues and enhanced understanding. Wang said both China and Japan claimed rights to 200 nautical miles but the East China Sea is less than 400 nautical miles wide. So there is an overlapping part and thus appears the dispute. How can we solve the dispute then? According to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, negotiations on the basis of the fairness principle should be conducted to seek a commonly acceptable solution. That is to say, the proposition of one party should not be imposed to the other party unilaterally. The fairness principle is aimed to take various factors into consideration. The first factor to be considered is the geographical conditions of the sea. Take a look at the map of the East China Sea and you will find on the Chinese side of the East China Sea is the Asian continent with very long coastal lines while on the Japanese side of the East China Sea is a chain of islands. Under this imbalanced geographical situation, Japan's proposition of cutting the East China Sea into two equivalent halves obviously violates the fairness principle. Furthermore, the central line is only a unilateral proposition of the Japanese side instead of the result of bilateral negotiations. It is not a defined line. China also has its own proposed line. Wang hoped that both sides can stick to the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea.

As for Japan's requirement to be a permanent member of the UN Security Council, Wang replied that we support necessary reforms of the UN, including the Security Council. As a permanent member and a responsible nation, China does not intend to indicate its stance on the requirement of a particular country too early. Wang said we welcome Japan to play an active role in the international arena including the UN affairs. The key point in realizing its goal is that Japan needs to take pragmatic actions to win the trust from the Asian nations, especially from the people of its neighbors.

Ambassador Wang also took other questions of interest from the journalists.