China warns politicians to accept ugly truth of aggression

CHINA yesterday warned against politicians in Japan refusing to admit its wartime aggression although it welcomed Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama's apology.

'We believe that the Japanese Government's attitude of expressing deep remorse over Japan's past colonial rule and history of invasion, and its apology to the peoples of Asian countries, is positive,' said a Foreign Ministry spokesman.

'But we cannot but point out that some people in Japanese society, including political circles, are still unable to adopt a correct attitude towards the history of that period,' he said.

President Jiang Zemin said some Japanese cabinet ministers still denied Japan's wartime aggression.

'That is something the Chinese people can never accept,' Mr Jiang said, adding: 'History cannot be forgotten and is not allowed to be distorted.' Such actions of Japanese officials would undermine the current friendly relations between the two countries, he said after visiting the Marco Polo Bridge outside Beijing - where the Japanese invasion of China began in 1937.

Mr Jiang urged Japan to make use of the 50th anniversary of the end of war to take a 'seriously look back' at that period of history and learn a lesson so it would not repeat the mistake.

China has organised a series of activities to commemorate the anniversary, hoping its people will always remember that part of history and strive for the prosperity of China and world peace, Mr Jiang said.