China hopes that the Japanese government would adopt a responsible
attitude towards history and educate its young people with the
correct version of history.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue made this remark at the
regular ministry press conference in Beijing Tuesday.
It
has been reported that the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture,
Sports, Science and Technology approved a history textbook last
year which omitted the accurate number of war victims who were
slaughtered during the Nanjing Massacre on December 13, 1937. The
text which said "the estimated number of victims ranged from tens
of thousands to 400,000" was changed to "many Chinese were killed"
by the intruding Japanese Imperial Army troops.
The textbook is due to be published in April and used by middle
school students in Japan.
The Nanjing Massacre, she noted, was a fully proven atrocity
committed by Japanese militarists during Japan's war of aggression
against China.
Any attempt to distort or sanitize its history of aggression would
be futile, Zhang said.
The crux of matter with regard to the textbook issue was whether
Japan was prepared to correctly view its past history of
aggression, the spokeswoman said.
About 300,000 Chinese civilians and disarmed prisoners of war were
massacred when Japanese troops embarked on an orgy of destruction,
pillage, rape and murder after taking the eastern booming Chinese
city of Nanjing, one of the worst atrocities in human history.
At
the press conference, Zhang also expounded China's position on DPRK
nuclear issue.
China hopes the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and
the United States will have direct talks as soon as possible and
that it is ready to play a role in resolving the current DPRK
nuclear problem, she said.
China made its clear-cut proposition immediately after the issue
came to prominence last October, Zhang recalled.
It
supported the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula for
maintaining peace and stability of the peninsula, and peacefully
resolving the issue through dialogue, Zhang said.
China had had extensive contacts with all countries concerned and
gave the comprehensive enunciation of its stance on such occasions
as international conventions, she said, adding that her country's
position had won wide international support and endorsement.
The key of the DPRK nuclear issue was to guarantee the
denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula while heeding the security
concerns of the DPRK, she said.
From an historical and practical perspective, Zhang noted, the 1994
DPRK-US Framework Accord remained the important basis for
denuclearization and should continue to be safeguarded.
The DPRK nuclear issue was still amid the process of developing and
changing, but the problem should be resolved peacefully only
through political means, Zhang stressed.
China had always promoted peace and dialogue and welcomed all
efforts in that direction, she said.
She added that her country opposed any moves that could further
escalate the situation.
"We are ready to continue efforts for peace and stability on the
peninsula, achieving denuclearization, and contribute our share to
a peaceful solution to" the DPRK nuclear issue, she said.
If
all relevant parties make constructive efforts, the spokeswomen
said, the DPRK nuclear issue could eventually be resolved
peacefully.
(Xinhua News Agency February 12, 2003)