Wang Yi calls on Japan to face up to history
Foreign Minister Wang Yi, centre, says: "Only by facing up to history can one earn respect." Photo: Xinhua
Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Friday Japan must face up to history, on the 80th anniversary of its surrender in the Second World War.
Wang said the war of aggression by Japanese militarists brought serious disasters to the people of China and other Asian countries, adding that Japanese people suffered as well.
The foreign minister said certain forces in Japan today still try to distort history and downplay its wartime atrocities, challenging the United Nations Charter and the post-war international order.
"Only by facing up to history can one earn respect; only by learning from history can one chart a better future; only by remembering the past can we avoid repeating the same mistakes," Wang told reporters on the sidelines of the 10th Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Kunming.
"We urge Japan to make the right choice."
This year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.
South Korea on Friday also marked the 80th anniversary of its liberation from Japanese colonial rule. (Additional reporting by Reuters)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RTHK
8 hours ago
- RTHK
European leaders back three-way meeting
European leaders back three-way meeting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was one of many leading figures to back a Trump-Putin-Zelensky meeting. File photo: Reuters European leaders on Saturday expressed support for a three-way summit between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Russia's Vladimir Putin and US leader Donald Trump, after a US-Russia summit failed to produce a ceasefire. A statement, signed by French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, insisted on maintaining pressure on Russia until peace was achieved, including through sanctions. The European leaders also insisted Moscow "cannot have a veto" on Ukraine joining the European Union or NATO. Russia has made clear it will not tolerate Kyiv's membership of the defence alliance. But the leaders said they were "ready to work ... towards a trilateral summit with European support". Friday's Trump-Putin meeting in Alaska ended without the US president extracting concrete commitments from Putin to halt Russia's invasion of Ukraine launched in February 2022. "We will continue to strengthen sanctions and wider economic measures to put pressure on Russia's war economy until there is a just and lasting peace," said the European joint statement. European leaders had been uneasy over Trump's diplomatic outreach to Putin, arguing that Zelensky should have been involved in the Alaska summit. In a separate statement, Starmer praised Trump's efforts as bringing "us closer than ever before to ending Russia's illegal war in Ukraine". Macron, writing on X, cautioned against what he said was Russia's "well-documented tendency to not keep its own commitments". He called for any future peace deal to have "unbreakable" security guarantees. He also argued for increased pressure on Russia until "a solid and durable peace" had been achieved. The European leaders welcomed what they called "security guarantees" made by Trump without giving details. (AFP)
South China Morning Post
10 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
China's top diplomat Wang Yi to visit India for first time in 3 years for border talks
Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit India for the first time in three years to discuss the latest round of border talks, the Chinese foreign ministry has confirmed. During the trip from August 18 to 20, top diplomat Wang will serve as the 'special representative of the China-India boundary question' in the 24th round of border talks 'at the invitation of the Indian side', according to a Saturday statement from the ministry. This series of negotiations aims to address long-standing border disputes , which have seen a temporary de-escalation following years of tension. Wang is expected to meet top Indian officials including National Security Adviser Ajit Doval. The two last met in Beijing in December to review disengagement in eastern Ladakh along the disputed border, known as the Line of Actual Control, where an estimated 50,000–60,000 troops remain deployed on each side. 'We stand ready to work with India to act on the important common understandings reached between leaders of our two countries, maintain the momentum of high-level exchanges, cement political mutual trust, enhance practical cooperation, properly handle differences, and promote the sustained, sound and steady development of China-India ties ,' Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said on Thursday in response to speculation about a trip by Wang. 'China and India are both major developing countries and important members of the Global South,' he said. 'A cooperative pas de deux of the dragon and the elephant as partners helping each other succeed is the right choice for both sides.'
RTHK
12 hours ago
- RTHK
Wang Yi to visit India for talks on border
Wang Yi to visit India for talks on border Wang Yi will be in India for the talks on the border between Monday and Wednesday. File photo: Reuters Foreign Minister and China's Special Representative on the China-India boundary question Wang Yi will visit India and hold the 24th Round of Talks Between the Special Representatives of China and India on the Boundary Question at the invitation of the Indian side, a foreign ministry official in Beijing announced on Saturday. The trip by Wang from Monday to Wednesday will bring about the second such meeting since a deadly clash in 2020 between Indian and Chinese troops at the border. Relations between the two Asian giants have been thawing since an agreement in October on patrolling their Himalayan border, easing a five-year standoff that had hurt trade, investment and air travel. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to meet President Xi Jinping at the end of the month when he travels to China for the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. (Xinhua/Reuters)
