China marked the 85th anniversary of the Nanjing Incident on Tuesday. A senior official condemned the deeds of the now-defunct Imperial Japanese Army, but called for building stable relations with Japan.

China designates December 13 as a day to remember the incident.

The Chinese government says atrocious acts were committed after the former Japanese Army entered Nanjing in 1937. The Japanese government says it is undeniable that the killing of noncombatants occurred, but it maintains that it is difficult to determine the exact number of victims.

A member of the Chinese Communist Party's supreme leadership, Cai Qi, attended the memorial ceremony in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, on Tuesday. He was appointed as the fifth top member of the Politburo Standing Committee at the party's National Congress in October.

At the ceremony he described the incident as a black page of human history.

But he said China and Japan have continued exchanges and cooperation in various fields since normalizing ties 50 years ago. He said the two countries should build a bilateral relationship that fits the new era.

Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in November for the first face-to-face summit between the two countries in about three years. Xi expressed his willingness to improve bilateral relations.