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China PM to address Japanese MPs China 'wants better Japan ties'
(about 2 hours later)
China's Prime Minister Wen Jiabao is due to become the first Chinese leader ever to address the Japanese parliament, the Diet. China's Prime Minister Wen Jiabao has called for better ties with Tokyo in a historic address to Japan's parliament.
The speech, at 1000 (0200BST), is being billed as an opportunity for Mr Wen to speak directly to the Japanese people. "The Chinese people want to exist in friendship with the Japanese people," he said, despite the "calamity" of Japan's World War II invasion of China.
Mr Wen is the first Chinese prime minister to visit Japan in seven years. Mr Wen urged Japan not to forget its wartime aggression, but acknowledged that Japanese people had also suffered.
It follows a trip by Mr Wen's Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe to China in October - a sign of a thaw in ongoing tensions between the two countries. Mr Wen is the first Chinese leader ever to address Japan's parliament, and his visit is aimed at improving ties.
The BBC 's Chris Hogg in Tokyo says the parliamentary address is an opportunity for Mr Wen to promote the themes of this visit, the need for closer economic co-operation between China and Japan and the development of a more stable relationship. His Japanese counterpart, Shinzo Abe, visited Beijing in October.
Diplomatic reception On Wednesday, the two men signed an agreement to co-operate over energy and the environment.
"In security, neither side should view the other as a threat or a challenge and engage in confrontation," Mr Wen told Mr Abe when the pair met on Wednesday, according to Reuters news agency. Now he has moved to the more sensitive topic of historical grievances. "Japan's invasions caused tremendous damage to the Chinese," Mr Wen told Toyko's parliament.
After speaking at the Diet Mr Wen is expected to meet the emperor and empress of Japan at the Imperial Palace before lunching with business leaders. "The deep scars left in the hearts of the Chinese people cannot be described."
In the evening he will attend a reception to mark 35 years since the re-establishment of diplomatic ties between Tokyo and Beijing. He added that "to reflect on history is not to dwell on hard feelings but to remember and learn from the past to open a better future".
Difficult issues
Mr Wen is also expected to meet the emperor and empress of Japan at the Imperial Palace before lunching with business leaders.
Japan and China both have claims over East China Sea depositsJapan and China both have claims over East China Sea deposits
This visit has started well enough with agreements signed on the sharing of technology to help save energy and to address environmental issues like climate change, our correspondent says. On Thursday evening, he will attend a reception to mark 35 years since the re-establishment of diplomatic ties between Tokyo and Beijing.
This visit has started well, with agreements signed on sharing technology to help save energy and to address environmental issues like climate change, the BBC's Chris Hogg in Tokyo says.
China has agreed to resume imports of Japanese rice and both countries have pledged to work harder to address differences over their shared past.China has agreed to resume imports of Japanese rice and both countries have pledged to work harder to address differences over their shared past.
But several difficult issues remain, our correspondent adds, including the dispute over who owns oil and gas reserves buried under the East China Sea. Despite months of negotiations there is still no agreement. But several difficult issues remain, our correspondent adds, including the dispute over who owns oil and gas reserves buried under the East China Sea.
Contacts between the two governments this week could help but are unlikely to produce the breakthrough both sides seek. Japan also accuses China of being secretive about its rapidly growing defence budget, while Beijing is wary of plans to revise Japan's pacifist constitution to make it easier to deploy troops.
Both sides are talking warmly of improved relations.
Responding to reports that Mr Wen considered this an "ice-melting" trip, a Japanese government spokesperson said: "We don't think there is any 'ice' left."
But Japan says China is secretive about its rapidly growing defence budget, while Beijing is wary of plans to revise Japan's pacifist constitution to make it easier to deploy troops.
This remains an uneasy relationship, our correspondent says, and some experts believe the fact that face-to-face meetings are taking place at all is an achievement of some significance.