A Chinese vice premier told Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu in 1990, one year after the Tiananmen Square massacre, that he had directly asked the emperor to visit China, according to a Japanese diplomatic document declassified Wednesday.

In November that year, then-Chinese Vice Premier Wu Xueqian made a trip to Japan to attend the Sokuirei Seiden no Gi ceremony proclaiming Emperor Akihito's ascension to the chrysanthemum throne.

Tokyo, however, kept Wu's remarks hidden from the public, given that anti-China sentiment grew at that time following the military crackdown on the pro-democracy protest in Beijing in 1989, the document said.