On April 4th, 2004, State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan met in the Great Hall of the People with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi.

Tang Jiaxun said the mainstream of China-Japan relations remains good and bilateral exchanges in various fields have scored tremendous achievements. However, it should also be noted that a number of problems have occurred recently. At this critical period of time, it is extremely important for us to conduct dialogue and exchange views frankly. Tang Jiaxuan expounded China's principled stances on the Taiwan question, the issue of history as well as the issue of the Diaoyu Islands. He stressed that Japan should pay full attention to these questions, which have a bearing on the fundamental concerns of the Chinese side and the feelings of the Chinese people, respect China's stance and reasonable propositions, and deal with the questions appropriately in line with the three political documents between China and Japan as well as the commitments made by the Japanese side to date. He said that to ensure the sound and stable development of China-Japan relations, we have to uphold the spirit of "taking history as a mirror and looking into the future", continuously mobilize positive factors and curb negative ones so as to maintain and cherish the existing achievements in bilateral relations and continuously expand common interest.

Yoriko Kawaguchi said it had been of great significance for the two sides to elaborate their stances on a number of questions during her visit, in the hope of maintaining the friendly bilateral relations. She reiterated Japan's stance of not supporting "the independence of Taiwan", saying that Japan had expressed its deep remorse for its erroneous state policy in history that resulted in its invasion and colonial rule of its Asian neighbors, which had brought devastating consequences to the people in these countries. She added that Japan would like to cooperate with China and overcome existing difficulties with the wisdom of both sides so as to push forward the development of bilateral friendly relations.