Shiro Azuma, the Nanjing massacre diary author. (Xinhua/filephoto)     BEIJING, Jan. 5 (Xinhuanet) -- Following the death of Shiro Azuma, the Nanjing massacre diary author, China has expressed condolences and sympathy to his relatives, Qin Gang, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, said here Thursday.     "I hope that more Japanese like Shiro Azuma will contribute to the friendship between China and Japan in the spirit of learning from history and facing the future, " said Qin.     Azuma was a soldier in the Japanese army during the war of aggression against China. He recorded the atrocities of the Nanjing massacre in his diary and had it published in 1987, which triggered a charge of "lying" from Japanese rightist politicians.     "Half a century later, Azuma had the courage to review the history of the aggression, defend the truth, and apologise to the victimized country, so his sense of justice and efforts to promote Sino-Japanese relations win our respect," Qin said.     Azuma died of cancer Tuesday in a hospital in Kyoto Prefecture.     Sino-Janpanese relations       Japan should honor its word on reproaching itself for its history of invasion, the spokesman said.     On Wednesday, Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi again defended his visits to the Yasukuni Shrine honoring Japanese war dead, saying that it is "a spiritual issue."     When asked to comment on Koizumi's remarks, Qin said that China's stance on the issue of shrine visits is well known.     "The current difficult situation in Sino-Japanese relations was not caused by China," Qin said, hoping the Japanese side would realize this.     He said China and Japan should enhance exchanges and cooperation, and China's stance on developing good-neighborly relations with Japan is consistent and clear.     "We hope Japan will properly handle issues concerning the political basis of bilateral ties, consider Chinese people's feelings, and create the conditions for an improvement of Sino-Japanese ties," he said. Japan's claim over diplomat suicide "unfounded"     Japan's accusations over the suicide of a Japanese diplomat in Shanghai were "unfounded."     Qin made the remark when asked to comment on Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe's assertion earlier on Thursday that the Chinese agents' actions were in violation of international conventions.     "Japan's claim is unfounded, and is an intentional attempt to instigate trouble," Qin said.     Qin said that China is a responsible nation that protects the lawful rights and interests of foreign diplomatic personnel in the country.     China has always abided by international conventions including the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, the spokesman noted.     "We request the Japanese side to handle this issue calmly and properly and not make fresh trouble for Sino-Japanese relations," he said, "It is a suicide case, and China and Japan clearly defined the nature of the case a year and a half ago."     China, Japan to jointly develop East China Sea     Japan has accepted the proposal made by China -- at the third round of China-Japan consultations on the East China Sea issue -- to jointly develop East China Sea resources.     Qin made the remarks at a routine press conference. He added that the two sides have not yet dealt with details such as size of investments and the distribution of interests.     He also denied reports by some Japanese media that Japan will offer investment funds for oil and gas exploration projects and that the two sides have reached agreement on the distribution of oil and gas resources.     "It is not true," Qin said.     China and Japan held the third round of consultations on the East China Sea issue in Tokyo from Sept. 30 to Oct. 1. The two sides exchanged views on the demarcation of the East China Sea and the possibility of launching joint sea resource development projects.     The second round was held in Beijing in May 2005. The two parties had an in-depth exchange of views on launching negotiations about the demarcation of the continental shelf of the East China Sea and promoting the joint development of marine resources in the area.     The two sides agreed to peacefully resolve the issue in line with the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries during their meeting in Jakarta. Enditem