China and Japan need to move their relations forward

The reciprocal visits of members of Japan's parliament and China's National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the country's top political advisory body, were "of great significance" for lawmakers in the two countries because they helped provide "a correct understanding of each other", Aisawa said.

Wu Jianmin added: "We need to open our eyes for both common interests and differences. We have more common interests than differences. It is the reason that we are confident in the future. Don't just complain. That does not help build trust."

Yoriko Kawaguchi said the two countries need to work out how to create conditions to improve matters.

Sitting in at one of the panel discussions of the 10th forum, a Chinese student studying at the Tokyo-based Waseda University said the students from China can hardly get the school's scholarships thanks to the strained relations between the two countries.

Takeaki Matsumoto, a lower house member from the Democratic Party of Japan and former foreign minister, and Ichiro Aisawa, a lower house member from the Liberal Democratic Party, said they will addressed the issue to Japan's parliament.

The health of the relationship is subject to the sensitive issues – history and territorial dispute. Now officials, scholars and opinion leaders are united on the need to prevent relations from degrading further. They pledge to continuously explore the paths to achieve long-term shared prosperity, rather than being distracted by the short-term issues at hand.

Chinese Ambassador to Japan Cheng Yonghua called the forum a "creative" public platform, which is playing a constructive role in promoting the relationship.

Demands for moving the relations forward are gathering momentum. This testifies to the fact that a friendly relationship is the will of people in the two countries, Cheng said.

While people can choose who their neighbors are, countries can't. China and Japan are neighbors that can't move even though the two governments tangle with each other every now and then.

"It is a shame if the strained relations between the world's second and third largest economies, separated by a narrow strip of water, become an area of conflict," former Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said.

It is high time that China and Japan present themselves correctly and try seriously to understand the other country to build a mature relationship.