CJFA Honorary Advisor Tang Jiaxuan And His Party Visit Japan

At the invitation of the seven Japan-China friendship organizations, Tang Jiaxuan, honorary advisor to the China-Japan Friendship Association (cjfa), and his party visited Japan March 10-17 to a warm welcome from various circles there. The seven organizations held a grand reception in honor of the Chinese party, while tang jiaxuan exchanged in-depth views and reached a clear consensus with personages from Japanese political, economic, cultural and friendship-with-China circles on further promoting relations in the new era.

I

“The auspicious snow ushers in spring,

Friends from Japan gather together with us,

Friendship will pass on from generation to generation.”

Premier Wen Jiabao recited his newly-composed hanpai (a type of poetry in emulation of haiku of Japan) during his meeting with both the Chinese and Japanese members of the Fifth 21st Century Committee for China-Japan Friendship in Ziguangge of Zhongnanhai on February 8. He stressed the mission of the committee was to bring into full play the role of both government and personages of various circles to jointly promote Sino-Japanese friendship. Taizo Nishimuro, senior Japanese member of the 21st Century Committee, asked Premier Wen to write down the poem that he would always treasure.

On March 11, Tang Jiaxuan handed on a hanging scroll of the poem handwritten by Premier Wen to Nishimuro who expressed thanks by saying: “It’s most precious! It shows Premier Wen’s great attention to China-Japan relationship.”

Nishimuro then recited the haiku he had composed in reply to that of Premier Wen:

Roads are open after ice is thawed,

Spring thunder resounds across the skies,

Melodious music is played harmoniously.

He asked Tang to pass this on to Premier Wen.

II

The Japanese Government attached great importance to Tang’s visit, displaying the new cabinet’s positive attitude towards developing the bilateral relationship after the administrative reshuffle.

In his meeting with Tang, Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama observed that the relationship had witnessed a good development. He expressed his hope that the two countries would make concerted efforts, look into the future and continue to strengthen their strategic relationship of mutual benefit, and that the two sides would increase high-ranking exchanges, enhance pragmatic cooperation and strengthen exchanges between youths and in social and cultural aspects so as to ensure the friendship passed on from generation to generation. He expected that the CJFA and the 21st Century Committee for China-Japan Friendship would make important contributions to it.

In their meetings with Tang, Takahiro Yokomichi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Satsuki Eda, President of the House of Councilors, commented that through the concerted efforts of the two sides, the bilateral relationship had entered a new stage of fast development. This relationship was not only very important to the two countries but to the outside world as well. The two sides should take advantage of the favorable situation to create a new strategic relationship of mutual benefit. The Japanese Diet would make great efforts to this end.

Currently, Sino-Japanese relations faced a rare opportunity for development, Tang observed in reply. He hoped that, in the context of both the regional and international landscape undergoing profound changes, the two countries should seize the favorable opportunity and further deepen and enrich their ties.

III

People-to-people exchanges between the two countries are an important pillar of China-Japan relationship. During Tang’s visit, the Japanese people also expressed their new expectations for promoting the development of relations.

On March 12, the seven Japan-China friendship organizations hosted a grand reception to welcome Tang and his party. Former Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama and former Speaker of the House of Representatives Yohei Kono were among about 600 people from various parts of Japan attending the reception. Everyone agreed China’s development presented an important opportunity to Japan. China was now engaged in regional and international affairs as a responsible major player. Japan and China should enhance mutual trust and cooperation. The seven organizations pledged jointly to make fresh contributions to strengthening Japan- China friendship and promoting pragmatic cooperation. Tang Jiaxuan appreciated the valuable contributions made by everyone involved in the improvement and development of the China-Japan relationship. He provided a retrospective of the course of the development of ties in the post-World War II era and observed that today’s achievements and good situation could not have been achieved without the strategic decisions made by the statesmen of the older generation and the arduous efforts made by non-governmental friendship organizations and personages with great insight, For a long time, the seven Japan-China friendship organizations had been at the forefront and worked hard and made indelible contribution to normalization, improvement and development of China-Japan relations. People-to-people friendship was the foundation of the friendship between China and Japan, and an important pillar of the continuous development of the cause of China-Japan friendship. Under the new situation, the friendship organizations of the two countries should create new forms of exchanges, enrich the contents of exchanges and engage in more substantial activities to enhance political mutual trust and improve people’s feelings towards each other so as to realize the great goal of maintaining China-Japan friendship for generations.

At the meeting in commemoration of the birth centennial of the late former Prime Minister Masayoshi Ohira, Tang said, Mr. Ohira had made an important contribution to the normalization and development of relations. During his visit to China, he announced that the japanese Government would provide Japanese yen loans and technological cooperation for China, which played an important role in China’s reform and opening up and modernization drive. The Chinese people would never forget this act.

Visiting the famous Matsuyama Ballet Company in Tokyo, Tang laid a bouquet in front of the tablet honoring the late Masao Shimizu, an old friend of the Chinese people. The young performers of the company recalled the difficult process Shimizu and Mikiko Matsuyama, founders of the company, had undergone from watching the film The White-Haired Girl for the first time to creating their own ballet of the story. The youngsters pledged to carry forward the fine tradition of the older generation and devote all their energies to enhancing the friendship between the Japanese and Chinese people. The ballet The White-Haired Girl would be further improved so as to let it become an art treasure not only for today but also in future and an everlasting shining star of art. After that, the famous ballerina Yoko Morishita and male ballet dancer Tetsutaro Shimizu led young dancers to perform the segment of the ballet where Dachun and Xi’er have a dramatic reunion in a cave. The soulful performance by the two artists aged over 60 was just like the company’s perseverance in carrying out friendly cultural exchanges between Japan and China, and expressed again their determination of ceaselessly advancing the cause of Japan-China friendship. All present were deeply touched and many were even moved to tears. Tang Jiaxuan recalled affectionately Chairman Mao Zedong’s and other Chinese leaders’ meetings with Masao Shimizu and his wife Mikiko Matsuyama and hoped that the Matsuyama Ballet would carry on the behest of Masao Shimizu and make new contributions to promoting the cultural exchanges between the two countries. The performers broke into prolonged applause.

At Soka University, the flowers on the “Premier Zhou Cherry Tree” and the “Zhou Couple Cherry Tree” planted in commemoration of Premier Zhou Enlai were budding. Tang noted that Soka was the first Japanese university to accept Chinese government-funded students studying abroad. In 1975, at the suggestion of Daisaku Ikeda, founder of Soka University, Chinese and Japanese students planted together the “Premier Zhou Cherry Tree”. Tang said that using their youthful enthusiasm and growing wisdom, young people of the two countries should weave a new China-Japan relationship worthy of the times. Daisaku Ikeda had always stated that Japan should always remember China’s profound friendly sentiments toward Japan and earnestly and sincerely develop the cause of lasting friendship between the two countries, he added.

In Kagawa Prefecture on Shikoku Island, Tang and his party visited the headquarters of All Japan Shorinji Kempo Federation (AJSKF). Doshin So, the founder, learned Chinese martial arts in his early years and created Shorinji Kempo (quan fa) after returning home. Doshin So’s view that “peace in Asia comes from Japan-China friendship, and without peace in Asia, there can be no peace in the world” has become the starting point for the work of his federation in promoting friendship between Japan and China. Yuki So, current president of the Federation, has carried on her father’s behest and regards Shaolin Temple on Mount Songshan, China as the “birthplace of the soul”. She said that, besides carrying out exchanges with Shaolin Temple in martial arts, the headquarters of the AJSKF has also made donations for building Hope Primary Schools in Henan Province and helping victims of the Wenchuan earthquake. In recognition of her work she has been conferred the title of China-Japan Friendship Envoy. She said that she would continue to work for deepening understanding and cultivating friendship between the Japanese and Chinese young people.

IV

In the industrial center of Osaka, Tang and his party visited the Nanko area. The Japan-China Economic and Trade Center (JCETC) and the Osaka Prefecture Japan-China Friendship Association jointly held a grand reception to welcome them. Osaka and the surrounding Kansai region occupy an important place in Japan’s economy. It is reported that currently over 70% of Osaka’s total imports and exports come from and go to the rest of Asia led by China. A large number of local small and medium-sized enterprises set great store by the Chinese market. Osaka Governor Toru Hashimoto said China’s economy was becoming increasingly important to the economy of Kansai and indeed the whole of Japan. The local government would do its utmost to serve as a bridge to help the Japanese and Chinese enterprises carry out business cooperation. On July 28, 2010, Osaka City would hold an “Osaka Day” at the Shanghai World Expo. A total of 500 people from various circles of Osaka would go to Shanghai by the cruise ship “New Jian Zhen”. Akio Tanii, President of the JCETC, said the JCETC would actively promote the local small and medium-sized enterprises to carry out cooperation with Chinese counterparts in the fields of energy conservation, environmental protection, etc. so as to give play to the advantages of Japanese enterprises and make full use of the China opportunity.

Reviewing the visit, we feel deeply that various parties in Japan from the government to non-governmental organizations, from political circles to business circles and from the capital to various localities all strongly hope that the two countries will make concerted efforts to continuously strengthen China-Japan strategic relationship of mutual benefit, increase high-ranking exchanges, deepen pragmatic cooperation, carry forward the cause and forge ahead into the future to ensure China-Japan friendship last for generations. Auspicious snow has ushered in spring in both China and Japan. The relationship of the two countries separated only by a strip of water is also ushering in spring.