Japan must match words with actions, Qin Gang says

China urges Japan to honor commitments, learn lessons from history, preserve the international order, and promote win-win cooperation, Foreign Minister Qin Gang said at a news conference on Tuesday on the sidelines of the ongoing annual two sessions.

Qin made the remarks when answering a question about this year marking the 45th anniversary of the signing of the China-Japan Treaty of Peace and Friendship.

"This treaty together with other political documents between China and Japan form the political foundation of the bilateral relations.

"These documents — particularly the important political consensus that the two countries should be partners, not threats — must be truly observed. Words must be matched with actions," he said.

Speaking on the wartime history, Qin said, "The immense suffering imposed by the Japanese militarists on the Chinese nation are still painful today."

"The Chinese people will not forget this and the Japanese side must not forget. Forgetting history is a betrayal and denying a crime is to repeat a crime," he said.

As some people from the Japanese side choose a beggar-thy-neighbor approach and take part in a new Cold War to contain China, Qin warned that "the bilateral relations would only suffer new wounds when the old ones are yet to be healed".

"Today's international order is built on the victory of the world's anti-fascist war, which cost the lives and blood of 35 million Chinese soldiers and civilians.

"The Chinese people will never accept any form of historical revisionism that challenges the postwar international order and international justice," he said.

Noting that China and Japan are highly complementary and need each other, Qin said they should uphold market principles and free and open spirit, "increase cooperation and jointly ensure stable and smooth industrial and supply chains, and inject impetus and vitality into global economic recovery".

In response to the Japanese government's decision to discharge contaminated water of the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea, Qin said, "This is not Japan's private business, but a major issue vital to the marine environment and human health."

"We urge the Japanese side to properly handle this matter in a responsible manner," he added.