``My visit, which comes on the 20th anniversary of our friendship treaty is to promote friendly relations between the two countries,'' Jiang told members of a Buddhist Japanese opposition party, the Komei.

``But to achieve that objective it is important to understand history in the right way.'' During yesterday's summit with Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, Jiang got only a verbal version of a three-year-old general Japanese apology to Asia, slightly tailored to China.

The two sides also issued a written joint statement, but one which neither leader signed, in which Japan cited its ``deep remorse'' over the past but did not offer a clear apology.

Japan's war-time aggression in China remains a thorn in ties, and even though the two countries formally resumed diplomatic ties in 1972, Jiang's six-day state visit is the first by aChinese president.

China says 20 million people died during and after the 1937-45 war with Japan.

On Taiwan, China demanded Japan's support for its ``three nos'' -- no Taiwan independence, no two Chinas (China and Taiwan) and no Taiwan joining international organisations as a sovereign state. Instead, Beijing got one `no', a restatement of Japan's promise not to support independence on the island, which China regards as a renegade province.