Foreign ministers of China, Russia, Mongolia convene in Astana

The foreign ministers of China, Russia and Mongolia on Wednesday convened at a meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Astana, Kazakhstan to talk about trilateral cooperation.

Presiding over the meeting, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi noted that the three countries are neighbors sharing weal and woe and cooperation partners with closely linked destiny. Enjoying geographic advantages and profound tradition, the mutually beneficial cooperation among the three parties is in fundamental alignment with the interests of their peoples.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China(CPC) Central Committee said in recent years, under the strategic guidance of three heads of state, the pragmatic cooperation among China, Russia and Mongolia has made steady progress. Communications and dialogues in various areas have deepened. The China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor has also made solid progress.

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Russia, as well as between China and Mongolia. It also commemorates the 10th year of the three countries' trilateral mechanism, said Wang.

China will, together with Russia and Mongolia, stay true to the original aspiration of cooperation, stick to the right direction, enhance solidarity and coordination, and exclude external interference, said Wang.

He added that China would like to jointly discuss an effective path of mutual benefit and win-win results, build a regional pattern of prosperity and stability and share benefits of regional development. 　　 Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Mongolian Foreign Minister Battsetseg Batmunkh spoke highly of the China-Russia-Mongolia trilateral foreign ministers' consultation mechanism, saying that cooperation among the three parties boasts broad prospects and huge potential.

They hoped to work with China to implement the important consensus reached by three heads of state, enhancing the alignment of Belt and Road Initiative with Eurasian Economic Union framework and Steppe Road plan, accelerating connectivity and the construction of China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor. The three countries should build more landmark and key projects to take trilateral cooperation to a new level.

The three foreign ministers also exchanged ideas on international and regional issues of mutual interest, vowing to enhance multilateral coordination, oppose unilateral actions, and safeguard regional peace and stability to promote regional integration development.

Foreign ministers of China, Russia, Mongolia convene in Astana

Foreign ministers of China, Russia, Mongolia convene in Astana

A retired Japanese teacher said that Japan's history education in various schools is misleading and distorting, which has been hijacked by some political forces for beautifying Japan's history of aggression and covering up historical truth.

In recent years, Japanese textbooks have gradually downplayed or even glorified Japan's history of aggression and distorted the historical truth, which has been opposed and resisted by many people in Japanese society.

In August this year, Japan will once again conduct a new round of textbook review, and many Japanese people with a sense of justice are using various social activities to make Japanese society face up to the historical crimes it once committed.

Ooka Fumiyo was born in 1950. She was a primary school teacher who taught social studies. She still remembers auditing a primary school history class, which gave her a feeling that there were serious problems in Japan's history education that urgently needed to be changed.

"On whether the war is right or wrong, the teacher drew a line and let the students discuss. As a result, the vast majority of students believed that the war was wrong. However, the teacher said that Japan was in great economic difficulty at the time. If it had not gone to Northeast China and plundered China, Japan would not have survived and would have been colonized. Through such teaching explanations and discussions, students' opinions gradually changed from 'war is wrong' to 'war is right,'" Fumiyo said.

Fumiyo said that the Japanese government has been constantly putting pressure on the Japanese education industry, and many words and expressions in history textbooks have been tampered with.

"In Japanese textbooks, there are only three or four lines about the Nanjing Massacre. But even if there is only a little bit of it, the teachers can expand on it. But now the textbooks no longer use the term 'Nanjing Massacre' but call it the 'Nanjing Incident' instead," she said.

"Although there is a textbook certification system in name, in reality the certification standards and methods are constantly changed by the Cabinet, and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology also intervenes and imposes restrictions on it," Fumiyo said.

Fumiyo, already 74, has been participating in public speeches and other social activities, calling on the Japanese people to pay attention to the textbook issue. She said she would continue the activities against right-wing textbooks.

History education in Japan on aggression misleading, distorting: retired Japanese teacher