On April 4, Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan called in Japanese ambassador to China, Koreshige Anami, and lodged strong representations over Japanese government's approval of the history textbook compiled by right-wing scholars. Tang said that ever since the occurrence of the textbook issue China, proceeding from maintaining the political basis of Sino-Japanese relations has expressed its serious concern over the matter through various channels. Tang remarked that however, the Japanese side disregarded China's solemn position and decided to approve the textbook.
China is strongly dissatisfied with and indignant at the Japanese action.
The textbook does not reflect on the deep atrocities against the Asian people by the Japanese militarists, but instead distorts the historical facts and exculpates for the crimes of aggression of the Japanese militarists. Facts demonstrate clearly that the basic purpose of the Japanese right-wing scholars fabricating the textbook is to deny and whitewash the history of aggression and inculcate into the Japanese youth an absurd and dangerous view of history. Tang warned that once the textbook is used in the classroom, it will definitely poison the Japanese education on history and lay a landmine of hidden danger for the future of Japan. Tang further noted that the issue is another severe political incident in Japan's handling of historical issues following two similar incidents in the 1980s. It reveals that there still exists in Japan a handful of ultra-rightist forces that have been trying to deny and whitewash Japan's history of aggression.