CRI听力:Attendees of 12th Beijing-Tokyo Forum urge efforts to improve China-Japan relations

Over 600 experts, former officials and private sector representatives from both countries are attending the event, which kicked off on Tuesday.

Speaking to the forum's opening ceremony, President of the China-Japan Friendship Association, Tang Jiaxuan, says the current China-Japan relationship has been disrupted by a variety of issues in recent years, and has not yet returned to a normal track.

He says this is something that needs to be fixed quickly.

"Both sides should take history as a mirror while facing up to the future based on the current realities. The two countries should also properly handle and control old and new conflicts, and in the meantime enhance practical communication and cooperation so as to promote steady improvement and development of bilateral ties."

Tang Jiaxuan says resetting ties between China and Japan should be based, in part, on the four-point principled agreement reached by the two sides during the 2014 APEC Summit in Beijing.

He also says the Beijing-Tokyo Forum underway in Tokyo is an important platform for discussing, studying and promoting bilateral ties.

Jiang Jianguo, Director of the Chinese State Council Information Office, says getting intellectuals and observers together from both sides will certainly help create stronger ties.

"Both countries should bring all positive factors from both peoples into play, improve the thought pattern of think tanks as well as media's guidance of public opinion, stabilize the cooperation between both enterprises and strengthen people-to-people exchanges, so as to make both peoples more close to each other and make more contributions to improve bilateral relations."

A number of high-profile Japanese officials are also attending this week's event, including Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and former Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda.

The Beijing-Tokyo Forum, launched in 2005, is held annually between Tokyo and Beijing.

This year's Forum will wrap up later on this Wednesday.

For CRI, I'm Xie Cheng.