Experts from Japan and China began discussions Saturday on the two countries' relationship at the opening of a two-day conference in Hiroshima.
In the 15th conference of its kind, the 15 Japanese and Chinese experts of a committee hosting the conference discussed Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit in August to Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo and the Japanese history textbook issue, both of which sparked protests from neighboring countries.
Koizumi's visit to Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Japanese war criminals along with Japan's war dead, and Tokyo's authorization of junior high school textbooks, which critics say gloss over Japanese wartime atrocities, stirred anger particularly in South Korea and China.
The conference was first held in 1984 and has been alternately held in China and Japan every year except 1989, 1994 and 1996.
Referring to the controversy over the textbook issue in his keynote address, Yang Zhenya, a former Chinese ambassador to Japan, said Japan should not whitewash the history of its occupation of China and must try to solve the problem by showing remorse, adding that it is important for the younger generations to establish firm ties of friendship for amicable relations between the two countries.
Speaking about the controversy concerning Yasukuni Shrine, Tatsumi Okabe, a professor at Senshu University, said both countries need to be free of prejudice in order to rebuild friendly ties.