Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Foreign Minister of Guinea-Bissau Carlos Pinto Pereira on Wednesday in Changsha City of central China's Hunan Province.
Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, congratulated Guinea-Bissau on becoming a founding member of the International Organization for Mediation (IOMed).
This institution will create a new platform and provide new options for countries, especially developing countries, to peacefully resolve disputes. It will help resolve disputes in a convenient manner in the spirit of autonomy and voluntariness, and will better safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of small and medium-sized countries, said the Chinese FM, adding that China is ready to strengthen cooperation with all parties, including Guinea-Bissau, to support the IOMed in fulfilling its due role.
Wang stated that in the face of the U.S. abuse of tariffs, Guinea-Bissau stood up and adopted reciprocal countermeasures, demonstrating the grit of Africa.
China and Guinea-Bissau should seek strength through unity, and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests, as well as the common interests of developing countries, Wang said, and called on the Global South to unite closely to resist all forms of unilateralism and protectionism, and defend international fairness and justice.
He also stated that since last year, the two heads of state met multiple times, and the important common understandings they reached have been implemented, further consolidating friendship and mutual trust. China and Guinea-Bissau have always treated each other as equals and supported each other, setting an example for relations between countries of different sizes.
Pereira expressed his pleasure at recently attending the signing ceremony of the Convention on the Establishment of the IOMed together with the Chinese side. The establishment of this new platform is of great significance and will help to better resolve differences in a peaceful and voluntary manner, he said.
Pereira also extended congratulations on the positive outcomes of the Ministerial Meeting of Coordinators on the Implementation of the Follow-up Actions of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Changsha, which further took stock of the early harvests of the outcomes of the Beijing Summit and formed a new consensus on cooperation.
He thanked China for its long-term assistance to Guinea-Bissau, and for practicing the principles of equality and mutual respect. Guinea-Bissau will continue to render mutual support with China, expand practical cooperation, and achieve mutual benefit and win-win results, said the visiting foreign minister.
Pereira came to China for the Ministerial Meeting of Coordinators on the Implementation of the Follow-up Actions of the FOCAC in Changsha.
China, Guinea-Bissau should seek strength through unity: FM
China, Guinea-Bissau should seek strength through unity: FM
The descendants of Japanese combatants in China during World War II, who last year knelt in apology to the Chinese people on behalf of their fathers in northeast China's Jilin Province, stressed the crucial need for Japanese people to recognize the atrocities committed by their ancestors and offer sincere apologies as an obligation.
On July 7, 1937, Japanese troops attacked Chinese forces at the Lugou Bridge on the outskirts of Beijing, marking the beginning of Japan's full-scale invasion of China and China's nationwide resistance against the Japanese invaders, initiating a whole-of-nation war effort that opened the main Eastern battlefield in the global war against fascism.
In September 2024, Kuroi Akio, along with five other descendants of Japanese soldiers who had invaded China, came to Gongzhuling City in Jilin Province with historical documents to apologize to the Chinese people on behalf of their fathers.
Kuroi's father, Kuroi Keijirou, participated in two separate campaigns in northeast China in 1932 and 1941. These campaigns included violent acts against civilians, something Kuroi is determined to address and atone for.
"As far as I can remember, my father was always a quiet man who rarely spoke. I hardly ever saw him smile -- he always wore a gloomy expression. I never had any experience of him patting my head or giving me a hug; no affectionate father-son interaction ever passed between us," Kuroi said.
Kuroi recalled watching a video featuring an American veteran of the Vietnam war. The veteran disclosed that he continued to dream about the killing of Vietnamese civilians and woke up screaming in the dead of night.
Kuroi observed that the veteran's harrowing experiences bore a striking resemblance to his father's sorrowful countenance. This led him to believe that his father suffered from the same kind of war trauma.
"Some people have shared with me their experiences of fathers who, due to war trauma, have subjected their families to domestic violence, such as beating or kicking their mothers, or struggling with alcohol abuse. As a matter of fact, in Japan, soldiers who suffered psychological breakdowns due to war were deliberately concealed by the authorities during wartime. I believe that my father also understood that it was the wrong war. I think it is crucial to convey the sentiment of 'I am truly sorry to the Chinese people' to express this feeling," Kuroi said.
During last year's apology ceremony at Gongzhuling Zhanqian Primary School, under the Chinese national flag, Kuroi removed his shoes and socks and knelt down to kowtow before the students.
"For Japanese people, kneeling in apology is considered the most solemn way," Kuroi said.
"At Gongzhuling Zhanqian Primary School, it is the actual ground where many murdered Chinese people are buried, and where the blood of numerous Chinese people has flowed. As a Japanese, I believe that I cannot wear shoes while standing on this land," he said.
"China is our neighboring country, with which we should live in harmony. We must openly confront the painful facts of the atrocities and aggression committed in the past and sincerely apologize from the bottom of our hearts. I believe this is something that must be done," said Kurokawa Yasuko, another descendant of a WWII Japanese soldier.
Japanese WWII descendants urge recognition, apologies for wartime atrocities against Chinese people
