BEIJING: Minister of Commerce Chen Deming on Saturday pressed the Japanese government to correct its wrongdoings over China’s Diaoyu Islands “as soon as possible”, saying that the China-Japan trade has been “seriously damaged” by Japan’s farce.

In a group interview on the sidelines of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, which opened on Thursday, Chen said that China’s exports to Japan and Japan’s exports to China both fell to different extents after the illegal purchase of Diaoyu Islands by Japanese government.

“We’re unwilling to see what’s happening now [on China-Japan trade relations],” Chen said, “as industries of different countries are highly interconnected in a globalized era.”

He said that the Japanese govern-ment’s illegal purchase of the Diaoyu Islands severely infringes China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and therefore it must take full responsibility for the worsening bilateral trade relations.