China urges Japan to properly handle tricky issues

China on Monday urged Japan to properly handle tricky issues between the two countries. The call from China's Foreign Ministry came one day after the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) scored a landslide victory over the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) in Sunday's House of Representatives election. "The Chinese side attaches importance to the direction of Japan's China policy," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regular news briefing. "(We) hope Japan will deeply understand and appropriately address difficulties and issues between the two nations, and advance bilateral ties in a healthy and stable way in line with the principles and spirit established in the four China-Japan political documents," she said. The four political documents -- the China-Japan Joint Statement on Comprehensively Advancing Strategic and Reciprocal Relations, the Sino-Japanese Joint Statement, the China-Japan Treaty of Peace and Friendship and the Sino-Japanese Joint Declaration -- were signed by the two sides in 1972, 1978, 1998 and 2008, respectively. "We have noted the results of Japan's House of Representatives election," Hua said, adding that the China-Japan cooperative relationship, which is based on peace and stability, serves not only the interests of the two nations, but also the peace and development of Asia. "As important neighbors, China and Japan reached consensus on building a strategic and mutually beneficial relationship in 2006," she said. "Meanwhile, we also pay great attention to the direction of Japan's development," Hua said. After the election, Shinzo Abe, president of the LDP, is expected to reclaim his former role as prime minister soon. "(We) hope Japan will continue to follow the path of peaceful development and play a constructive role in regional peace, stability and development," she added.