A dose of sobriety and acceptance of historical truths are the remedy for the rightist sickness clouding its vision and preventing healthy ties with China

China has been taking a series of significant moves to mark the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. Last Monday President Xi Jinping joined hundreds of people in an unusually high-profile ceremony marking the 77th anniversary of the start of the all-out war with Japan, stressing the need to correctly view and hold the right attitude toward history.

Earlier this year, China officially proclaimed Dec 13 as the Public Memorial Day for the 1937 Nanjing Massacre committed by the Japanese army. And recently the State Archives Administration began to publish the confessions of Japanese war criminals, at the rate of one confession a day, while the Jilin Archives Administration has published letters of Japanese soldiers that were censored by the Japanese army because they recorded its crimes.

These acts are of special meaning. As both a victim and a victor of World War II, China has regulated its view of history in terms of law. As early as 1972 when China and Japan normalized bilateral relations, it was listed in their joint declaration that Japan should view history without bias and not deny its historical aggression against China. That commitment was considered a foundation stone for bilateral political ties and a prerequisite for improving relations.

Currently the relationship between China and Japan is at its lowest point since 1972 and many experts attribute that to the territorial dispute over the Diaoyu Islands. This dispute is also entwined with Japan's attitude toward history. Japanese historical records show that as early as 1894 militant Japan had cast greedy eyes on the Diaoyu Islands, called the Senkakus in Japan, and they finally seized them among other Chinese territories in the 1894-95 Sino-Japanese War.

Thus the Diaoyu Islands are not only territorial soil for China, but also a scar that reminds China of its past subjugation and infamy. In defending its sovereignty over the Diaoyu Islands, China is defending the dignity of the nation and its people.

The problem is that the Japanese government has not yet realized this, or simply chooses to ignore it. Actually, the worsening of the relationship has always been associated with Japanese politicians' moves that hurt China emotionally. More than one Japanese scholar has pointed out that co-development of resources near the Diaoyu Islands could have become reality if the Japanese government viewed its historical crimes in a more acceptable way.

The former Japanese ambassador to China Uichiro Niwa has always been a firm advocator of dialogue between the two countries. But mutual respect is an indispensable prerequisite to any dialogue, and the Japanese government's attitude toward history makes dialogue impossible.

Especially, as 2014 marks the 120th anniversary of the start of the 1894-95 Sino-Japanese War, two full rounds on the Chinese lunar calendar. That war profoundly changed the power structure in East Asia and influenced the fate of China and Japan. While the old China fell deeper in the tragedy of a semi-colony, the victorious Japan stepped on a path of military expansion that brought a nightmare to the whole Asia-Pacific region until Japan's defeat in 1945.

With their GDP and comprehensive capabilities almost the same, China and Japan are now in balance again. China's stronger military capabilities are no threat to Japan; neither will Japan's lifting of the ban on collective defense rights necessarily turn it into a military empire again.

History may repeat itself, but the days of solving disputes through a war are long gone and neither side is suggesting war as an option. However, the two nations could possibly "build" each other into an enemy without strategic mutual trust.

Just as Manfred Henningsen, emeritus professor of political science at Hawaii University, wrote in an article, "(there is) no respect for a society whose leaders lack the courage to apologize for the crimes of its imperial regime". If Japan does not realize its past crimes, how can the victims of such crimes believe it has no intention of committing them again?

Japan's aggression had its roots in the society of militant Japan. When deciding to invade China, wage the Pacific War, attack Southeast Asia, Japanese rulers said they were "fighting for survival" and many Japanese believed such nonsense. The similar hysteria in Japanese society today must be rooted out in order to win the trust of China and other Asian countries, and that requires the Japanese leadership to hold the correct attitude to history.

In his speech, President Xi said that "history is the best textbook, as well as the best dose of sobriety", adding that Chinese people who remember the torment of war have always been in pursuit of peace. We hope the Japanese leadership can learn this lesson, which is necessary in improving relationship with China.

The author is director of the Institute of Japanese Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. This is an excerpt from her speech at a press salon hosted by the All-China Journalists Association.