Seventh Chinese Governors’ Delegation Visits Japan

At the invitation of the Japanese National Governors’ Association (JNGA), the seventh Chinese governors’ delegation composed of 8 members with Liu Xinmin, vice governor of Henan Province as the head, and Jing Dunquan, CPAFFC vice president as his deputy, paid a one-week goodwill visit to Tokyo, Fukuoka, Oita, and Okinawa. They arrived in Japan on May 23 where they had extensive contacts and exchanges with leading officials of the Japanese central and local governments and personages of various circles and reached consensus with the Japanese side on further promoting and expanding exchanges and cooperation between the local governments of the two countries in the political, economic, trade, cultural and personnel fields.

Contacting Personages of Various Circles and Publicizing China-Japan Friendship

The Chinese governors’ delegation visited Japan when the political relations between the two countries were facing great difficulties.The visit attracted attention from various circles of Japan. During the delegation’s stay in Japan, Katsutoshi Kaneda, vice foreign minister, Issui Miura, vice minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, Tsutomu Yamazaki, vice minister of internal affairs, governors of Fukuoka and Oita and vice governor of Okinawa, respectively met with the delegation. During the meeting, Liu Xinmin, head of the delegation, spoke highly of the great development of China-Japan relations in the past more than 30 years since the normalization of diplomatic relations. Liu said, China and Japan, two close neighbours with the same cultural origins and a history of friendly exchanges for over two thousand years, are respectively Asia’s largest developing country and largest economy. To carry forward friendship for generations between the two countries and peoples is the common aspiration and also in the fundamental interests of the two peoples. Liu said, through concerted efforts of the two sides in the past more than 30 years, friendly exchanges and cooperation between the local governments of the two countries have achieved substantial results. 228 pairs of friendship cities between the two countries have been twinned. He hoped that exchanges at all levels between the local governments of the two countries would be further increased and cooperation in the fields of economy, trade, culture, education, sports, environmental protection, urban construction, natural disaster reduction and prevention, personnel, etc. would be strengthened so as to further push forward healthy and steady development of Sino-Japanese relations and let the two peoples coexist peacefully, carry on friendship from generation to generation and march toward common prosperity through mutually beneficial cooperation and common development.

Attending Sino-Japanese Governors’ Meeting on Exchanges

During its visit in Japan, the delegation attended the JNGA-sponsored Sino-Japanese Governors’ Meeting on Exchanges with the theme of strengthening exchanges and cooperation between the Chinese and Japanese local governments in the fields of economy, culture, education and media. Wataru Asuo, president of the JNGA and governor of Fukuoka, Yoshio Iijima, vice governor of Fukui, Yoshiaki Shimatsu, vice governor of Okayama，and Hiroshi Maruyama, vice governor of Mie, and personages from the press attended the meeting.

Liu Xinmin put forward three proposals on the future exchanges between the local governments: to actively carry out cultural and sports exchanges to further enhance mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples; to carry out people-to-people exchanges to promote economic and social development; to extensively make close friends with people in various circles to consolidate the basis of the friendship between the two countries. Liu hoped that starting from the angle of local governments, both Chinese and Japanese personages of insight in various circles would set store by the long-term interests of Sino-Japanese friendship and continue to make new contributions to promoting exchanges and cooperation and development of the friendship. Mu Dongsheng, vice governor of Qinghai Province, expressed his hope that both sides would strengthen cooperation in the fields of agriculture and livestock husbandry, especially in intensive processing of agricultural and livestock products, improvement ofbreeding stock, treatment of degeneration of grassland and preservation of freshness of agricultural products produced in Qinghai for export. Long Zhuangwei, vice governor of Hebei Province, said, as Hebei is undergoing industrial restructuring and concentrating its efforts to develop hi-tech industries, it welcomes Japanese hi-tech enterprises to invest in the province and hopes to strengthen cooperation in vocational education and building the anti-seismic and earthquake relief system. Ulan, vice chairman of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, said, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has rich natural resources and unique culture. She hoped that the two sides would promote exchanges in the fields of economy, culture, education, tourism, and Inner Mongolia’s traditional medicine by opening governmental, non-governmental and business channels.

The Japanese side also put forward proposals for future exchanges. Wataru Asuo, governor of Fukuoka, said, both sides should strengthen exchanges between the young people from a long-term angle, and could set up a friendship school on the web and through the Internet to carry out exchanges between the young people, mainly students of senior middle schools. Yoshio Iijima, vice governor of Fukui, expressed his hope that the two sides would strengthen cooperation in the fields of fibres and garments production and research and development of nuclear power energy and tourism, and that Fukui is willing to support China in training qualified personnel in managing nuclear power station. Yoshiaki Shimatsu, vice governor of Okayama, said, sixty percent of the enterprises in Okayama have established economic and trade ties with China, and in the future they will strengthen cooperation in economy and tourism with China’s central and western areas, the country’s new areas for economic growth. Hiroshi Maruyama, vice governor of Mie, briefed about the prefecture’s plans for medical care, health and welfare industries jointly worked out by the business circles, universities, the government and non-governmental organizations, and hoped to establish cooperative relations with Chinese biological and medicine industries to promote investment in each other’s country.

. At the meeting, the two sides had warm discussions on the problems of common concern such as energy resources, environmental protection, the rate of economic growth, the policy for supporting agriculture, etc. The delegation gave an easily understood and vivid briefing on how the Chinese local governments put people first, fully grasp the scientific outlook on development and carry out the Eleventh Five-Year Plan as well as China’s general targets of economic and social development. Wataru Asuo said, the Eleventh Five-Year Plan that gives the same importance to social development and economic development is very important and correct policy targets. To implement China’s economic development pattern of saving energy and reducing consumption of materials is a very hard task for the local governments, but it is not only beneficial to China itself, but also a contribution to the world.

In his summing-up speech CPAFFC Vice President Jing Dunquan said, facing the new situation in the new century, we need to make great efforts to promote friendly exchanges and cooperation between the local governments of the two countries and make these exchanges and cooperation more substantial and closer to the two peoples and let them really enjoy the fruits of these exchanges.