Major Japanese media highlighted in their Sunday editions reports of China's commemorative events, celebrating the 60th anniversary of the victory of China's war of resistance against Japanese aggression.

Asahi Shimbun said that Chinese President Hu Jintao's speech marking the occasion, while emphasizing the importance of China-Japan relations, strongly criticized Japanese leaders' visits to the war-related Yasukuni Shrine, and urged Japan to translate their apologies for wartime aggressions into positive action.

According to the daily newspaper, officials of the Japanese Foreign Ministry regarded Hu's speech at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Saturday as a sign of the promotion of future bilateral ties.

The report noted that, apart from the severe criticism of Japan's domestic forces distorting history and whitewashing the war of aggression, Hu emphasized the significance of China-Japan relations towards stability and development.

Hu urged Japanese leaders to properly deal with the issue of history and to translate apology and remorse into action, Japan's major business daily Nihon Keizai said.

The war commemoration events in Beijing are the most important part of China's festivities marking the 60th anniversary of the victory, the semi-official Kyodo news agency said in a commentary.

Hu praised the efforts of the Chinese Communist Party during the war and called for the party's further solidarity in the new days, the commentary said, adding that Hu's speech stressed China's choice of peaceful development amid a new round of "China threat" propaganda.

(Xinhua News Agency September 5, 2005)