Seventh China, Japan and ROK Friendship Cities Conference

At the invitation of Korea Local Authorities Foundation for International Relations (KLAFIR), the China Local Friendship Delegation of 80 members led by the vice president of CPAFFC, Wang Yunze, paid a goodwill visit to ROK from September 6 to 10, 2005 and attended the Seventh China, Japan and ROK Friendship Cities Conference held in Pyongchang-gun of Kangwon-do.

Since the Seoul meeting in1999, the China, Japan and ROK Friendship Cities Conference is held annually by turns in the three countries and has become an important platform for exchanges between their local governments.

Active Cooperation Between China, Japan and ROK

As the hosts of the conference, the KLAFIR and the authorities of Kangwon have made careful preparations, while China and Japan actively organizing their representatives to come to the meeting. This time, in addition to the 80-member delegation sent by the CPAFFC, over 20 civil servants from various parts of China who were studying in ROK also took part in the conference, making it the biggest Chinese presence at all the conferences held in ROK and Japan.

CPAFFC Vice President Wang Yunze, KLAFIR President Cho Young-ho, Kangwon Governor Kim Jin-sun and President of the Council of Local Authorities for International Relations (Japan) Michihiro Kayama attended the conference and made speeches. Representatives from the three parties all gave their full approval of the positive role played by the conference in promoting exchanges between local authorities of the three countries, and hoped that such exchanges would be further promoted through this platform and contribute to the common prosperity of Northeast Asia and the peaceful development of Asia and the world at large.

Experience Exchanged Between Local Governments

During the conference, some famous scholars made analyses from the academic perspective about the role of local governments and the future of cooperation between cities, while leaders of local governments of the three countries shared their successful experience in international exchanges.

Moon Chung-in, well-known Korean scholar and professor of Yonsei University, delivered the keynote speech at the conference. Lian Yuming, Chinese specialist in urban problems and director of the Beijing International Institute for Urban Development, made a speech on the main theme. Both of them theoretically analyzed the situation of exchanges between local governments of China, ROK and Japan and put forth some suggestions on the direction of future exchanges.

At the conference, Deputy Secretary of the Harbin Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China Fang Cunzhong, Vice Mayor of Huaibei of Anhui Province Kong Xiaohong and Vice Mayor of Hechi of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Lin Dehong also gave speeches on the main theme on behalf of the Chinese delegation. Korean and Japanese mayors spoke enthusiastically, sharing their ideas with the participants.

Cities without Friendship Partners Introduced

Only cities that have friendship partnrs of the three countries were invited by the previous conferences. In order to better reflect the purpose of the conference i.e. serving the local governments, as suggested by China, the seventh conference expanded the list of participants which included cities that wished to establish friendship ties with others. The conference specially held a meeting of cities’ exchanges, providing an opportunity for them to introduce themselves. On the Chinese delegation, there were representatives of 31 different provinces and cities, ten of which had not yet established friendship-city relations with ROK. Vice mayor of Puyang of Henan Province, vice mayor of Yunfu of Guangdong Province and deputy director of the Foreign Affairs Office of Wuxi introduced their cities at the meeting.

Signing Ceremony on Establishment of Friendship-City Relations Between Huaibei and Pochon

At the conference, the signing ceremony on the establishment of friendship-city relations between Huaibei of China and Pochon of ROK was held. Kong Xiaohong, vice mayor of Huaibei, on behalf of the mayor, signed the agreement on the establishment of friendship-city relations with Park Youn-kook, mayor of Pochon.

The city of Harbin was selected by China to host the Eighth China, Japan and ROK Friendship Cities Conference in 2006.