China-Japan relations “are now at a critical stage” and are “in need of progress to avoid backpedaling”, senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi said on Wednesday.

Wang, director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the comment as he met with a delegation led by Toshihiro Nikai, chairman of the Japan-China Friendship Parliamentarians’ Union, in Beijing.

It is hoped that “the Japanese side will set up an objective and correct perception of China”, pursue a positive and rational policy toward China, and put into practice its position of comprehensively promoting the strategic and mutually beneficial relations, Wang said.

China is willing to work with the Japanese side to learn from history; open up the future; remember the original aspiration; guard the right and break new grounds; and jointly promote the sustained, healthy and stable development of China-Japan relations along the right track, he added.

The Japanese guests said they will continue to work to stabilize and improve Japan-China relations, promote people-to-people contacts and exchanges between legislative bodies, and enhance mutual understanding and friendship among generations.

The aim is to promote the common development and progress of the two countries, they said.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, appreciated Nikai for his active long-term involvement in the cause of China-Japan friendship.

China and Japan are neighbors, and staying true to the general direction of peaceful coexistence, generational friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation “serves the fundamental interests of the two peoples and is the only correct choice”, Wang said.

In the past two years, the two sides jointly commemorated the 50th anniversary of the normalization of bilateral diplomatic relations and the 45th anniversary of the signing of the China-Japan Treaty of Peace and Friendship.

Leaders of the two countries reaffirmed their commitment to comprehensively promote the strategic and mutually beneficial relations, and they agreed to build a constructive and stable China-Japan relationship that meets the requirements of the new era, providing strategic guidance for the development of bilateral relations, Wang noted.