Page 230 - SELECTED WORKS OF DENG XIAOPING Volume III

BE ON GUARD AGAINST ATTEMPTS TO REVIVE
MILITARISM IN JAPAN

May 5, 1987

Friendly relations between China and Japan and between our two peoples
began to develop in the era of Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou
Enlai. Many of our friends in Japan, including those from political, academic
and press circles, have worked hard and accomplished a great deal over the
last several decades. One of the pioneers who have been helping to promote
good relations between the two countries is Mr. Tokuma Utsunomiya. All of
our friends present here today have been working for dozens of years to
improve relations between China and Japan. The Chinese people hope for
good relations with the Japanese people, and more than 90 per cent of
Japanese also want to see good relations between the two countries.
If there is anything the matter in Sino-Japanese relations, it is the
possibility that a handful of people in Japan, some of whom probably have
political influence, may revive militarism there—that is what the Chinese are
concerned about. It’s the only thing that worries us. But the Chinese people
are glad to see that the overwhelming majority of Japanese are opposed to
such a revival. Over the last century Japanese militarism has brought
suffering not only to the Chinese people and to the peoples of other Asian
countries but also to the Japanese people themselves. We think the many
people in press and political circles in Japan who criticize militarism and are
on guard against its revival are to be commended. Not only should efforts
to criticize and expose this tendency be stepped up, but more should be done
to promote good relations between our two countries and peoples and to
deepen our friendship and our understanding of each other.
The slogan “the Chinese and Japanese peoples should live in friendship
from generation to generation” represents an ideal for all of us. We should

Excerpt from a talk with Tokuma Utsunomiya, President of the Japanese-Chinese
Friendship Association and member of the Japanese House of Councillors, and other friends
from Japan.

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