China urges mutual trust with Japan

BEIJING - A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman on Wednesday urged China and Japan to enhance mutual trust as a recent survey reveals negative attitudes between the people of the two countries.

Spokesman Hong Lei made the remarks at a regular press conference when asked to comment on the result of the survey.

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The survey, jointly sponsored by the Chinese English newspaper, China Daily, and Genron NPO, a Japanese think tank, shows 84 percent of ordinary Japanese people harbor negative attitudes toward China, while the proportion of Chinese people that have a negative impression of Japan also remains high.

China and Japan should observe the principles of the four political documents signed between the two countries and safeguard the healthy and stable development of bilateral ties, said Hong.

The four political documents, namely the Sino-Japanese Joint Statement, the China-Japan Treaty of Peace and Friendship, the Sino-Japanese Joint Declaration and the Sino-Japanese Joint Statement on Advancing Strategic and Mutually Beneficial Relations, serve as the bedrock for developing bilateral relations.

"The two countries should try their best to do everything that contributes to bilateral mutual trust and firmly oppose anything that damages mutual trust," he said.

China hopes the people of our two countries will improve their attitudes toward each other, so to consolidate the social foundation of bilateral relations, said the spokesman.