Japan-China ties at turning point says Chinese Amb.

Chinese Ambassador to Japan Kong Xuanyou said on Thursday that diplomatic ties between Japan and China stood at a new start and an important turning point as they marked their 50th anniversary.

He made his remarks, alongside Japan's Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, during a ceremony in Tokyo celebrating the 1972 normalization of relations between Japan and China hosted by the Japan Federation of Economic Organizations.Hayashi said Japan shared a strong responsibility with China for the peace and prosperity "of the region and the world."On September 29, 1972, then Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka and then Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai signed a joint communique in which the governments of the two Asian countries agreed to "establish relations of perpetual peace and friendship."