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Japanese politicians and prominent academics from China and Japan urged Tokyo on Tuesday to abandon its outdated foreign policy of leaning on the West and accept China as a key partner and as important as the United States.

The Tokyo Consensus, a joint statement issued at the end of the Beijing-Tokyo Forum, also called on both countries to expand trade and promote a free-trade agreement for China, Japan and South Korea.

The consensus is the first document to suggest solutions to problems agreed by non-governmental elites from both countries since the forum started in 2005, calling on Beijing and Tokyo to join hands to help ease the European debt crisis.

Koichi Kato, a member of the Japanese House of Representatives, told the forum in Tokyo that it is time for Japan to distance itself from the theory of being separate from Asia.

The theory, first proclaimed by Japanese author Yukichi Fukuzawa, an influential figure during the Meiji Era (1868-1912), has guided Japan's foreign policy.

Fukuzawa wrote that Japan should not wait for its neighbors, including China and Korea, to start their modernization but ought to "leave Asia" and follow Western countries.

It also suggested that the government should not treat China and Korea - which he called "bad friends in Asia" - with "special sympathy", but to treat them as the West did.

"We used to follow the path of breaking away from Asia and joining Europe," Kato said.

"But look at Japan's foreign trade now, its trade volume with the US has fallen behind China. The current situation has changed too much from the old one, which originated from the old theory. We should propose a completely different one," he said.

He supports the idea of "returning to Asia and keeping close to the US".

Ye Xiaowen, Party secretary of China's Central Institute of Socialism, said that the theory was proposed during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and "nourished imperialism in Japan".

"Japan will be underestimating China if it sticks to its old foreign policy," Ye said.

Chen Haosu, president of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, suggested that the Japanese government should treat all countries as potential friends.

The benefits of the proposed free-trade area involving China, Japan and South Korea were also highlighted at the forum.

The three nations have agreed to start negotiations on the trade pact by the end of the year.

. At the opening ceremony of the forum on Monday, former vice-premier Zeng Peiyan called on China and Japan to maintain stable growth and to contribute further to the global economy.

The annual gathering is one of the most significant platforms for high-level non-governmental communication between the two countries. More than 100 politicians, scholars and former government officials and military officers attended the gathering this year.

Questions:

1. What was the name of the Japanese author whose theory has guided Japanese policy?

2. When was the theory of Japan being separate from Asia first proposed?

3. When have the three nations agreed to start negotiations on the trade pact?

Answers:

1. Yukichi Fukuzawa.

2. Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

3. By the end of the year.

（中國日報網英語點津 Helen 編輯）

About the broadcaster:

Rosie Tuck is a copy editor at the China Daily website. She was born in New Zealand and graduated from Auckland University of Technology with a Bachelor of Communications studies majoring in journalism and television. In New Zealand she was working as a junior reporter for the New Zealand state broadcaster TVNZ. She is in Beijing on an Asia New Zealand Foundation grant, working as a journalist in the English news department at the China Daily website.