MOSCOW (Sputnik) — According to the file, documenting a meeting between Japan's then prime minister Yasuhiro Nakasone and then general secretary of China's Communist Party, Hu Yaobang, in November 1983, Japan planned to build up defense capabilities in line with the country's Constitution, the NHK broadcaster reported.
10 January 2017, 15:03 GMT
The Chinese official said that China supported Japan's economic development and appropriate increase of its defense capacities and budget, adding that he believed Japan would not go to war with China, no matter how greatly it expanded its defense.
The meeting took place during Hu's first visit to Japan.
In 1973, China and Japan agreed to reestablish diplomatic relations and signed a peace and friendship treaty five years later.
The Japanese Constitution states that the country and its people renounce war and the use of force as means of settling international disputes.
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