Chinese and Japanese political, economic and academic leaders shared their apprehensions about the ever-growing aversion to China among the Japanese public when they met for a two-day forum in Tokyo starting Tuesday.
While noting an improvement in Sino-Japanese relations on the political level, efforts must be made on both sides to defuse the ill sentiment on the public level through the promotion of "grassroots, people-to-people exchanges," Chinese Ambassador to Japan Cui Tiankai said in an address at the forum.
Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura shared the Chinese envoy's concern, stating in his opening address that mutual understanding between the people of the neighboring countries is "the very basis for bilateral relations."