'Friendship should be cherished forever'
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-11-16 00:56

Fields strewn with raw and bloody bones, dead bodies of women and children. These breathtaking black-and-white photos depict the Nanjing Massacre.

"The war was very cruel. Under no circumstance should war occur again. The hard-won Japan-China friendship should be cherished forever," said senior Japanese councilor Giichi Tsunoda Wednesday upon visiting an exhibition of China's resistance war against Japan.

Imperial Japan brutally invaded much of East and Southeast Asia,including China, starting in the early 1930's..

Tsunoda, vice-president of the House of Councilors of the Diet of Japan, paid a visit Wednesday to the Memorial Hall of the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression located in western Beijing.

He is the highest-ranking Japanese official to visit the memorial hall since its reopening in July.

During his one-and-half-hour stay, Tsunoda toured all of the eight sections of the exhibition. He listened to introductions andlooked at the photos and exhibits with great interest.

In the exhibition hall of 1937's six-week Nanjing Massacre, in which invading Japanese troops killed over 300,000 Chinese people,Tsunoda gazed at the photos seriously for minutes, not saying anything.

"I felt extremely sad for those women and children who sufferedmost during the war," Tsunoda said.

"Our Prime Minister has visited the Yasukuni Shrine five times,which greatly harms the feelings of the Chinese people." he said."I fully understand Chinese people's feelings."

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has visited Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine every year since taking office in April 2001. The shrine honors 14 Class-A war criminals responsible for Japan's aggression against its Asian neighbors before and during World WarII.

Tsunoda said he hopes Koizumi will further consider this matterand believes he can find a proper solution to the issue.

He also emphasized that although confronted with difficulties, Japan and China should promote friendly ties from a comprehensive regional perspective, enhance dialogue on different levels, and settle issues peacefully.

Tsunoda is heading a Japanese parliamentary delegation to visitChina. He hopes to establish a regular exchange mechanism between the House of Councilors of the Japanese Diet and the National People's Congress, China's top legislative body.

"As a councilor, I am ready to spare no efforts to promote Sino-Japanese friendship in the new century," he said.