Chinese Ambassador to Japan Wang Yi Wednesday called on Japan to face up to the crux damaging bilateral ties and try to overcome the political obstacles ahead.

Wang made the above remarks at a Spring Festival reception at the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo with Chinese compatriots.

In his speech, Wang introduced the tremendous achievements and great prospects China have made in social and economic development.

Wang said the two countries experienced ups and downs in the past year in their relationship.

It should be noticed that more and more people have realized that such a situation should not continue. The bilateral relations should be improved and political obstacles should be cleared because it conforms to not only the fundamental interests of the two peoples, but also expectations of Asian countries.

Wang pointed out that Chinese President Hu Jintao made a five-point proposal on improving bilateral ties last year, which points out the direction for improving and developing Sino-Japanese ties.

The two sides should abide by the principles set in the three Sino-Japanese political documents and promote bilateral ties in the spirit of "take history as a mirror and look forward to the future."

The Chinese government and leaders attach great importance to Sino-Japanese relationship and hope the two sides can make concerted efforts to push Sino-Japanese relations back to the track of sound development at an early date and explore new ways to handle current problems.

So far, China has exerted a lot of efforts to improve the ties, but efforts should be made by both sides, said Wang. The key to the current problem is that Japan should correctly face up to the crux damaging bilateral ties and try to overcome the political obstacles ahead.

Wang said as China and Japan are important neighbors of each other, there should be only one prospect in their ties, that is good-neighborliness and common development. And this, Wang added, is China's policy that never changes.

At last, the Chinese Ambassador said China is willing to make persistent efforts together with Japanese friends in all circles in this regard.

Editor: Yan