2007 Chinese and Japanese Businessmen’s Friendly Spring-Greeting Party Held in B

On the evening of March 22, the China-Japan Friendship Association (CJFA) and the Japanese Chamber of Commerce in China (JCCC) held the 2007 Chinese and Japanese Businessmen’s Friendly Spring-Greeting Party at the Hotel New Otani Chang Fu Gong in Beijing. Song Jian, president of the CJFA, Makoto Isogai, president of the JCCC, and Yuji Miyamoto, Japanese ambassador to China, other diplomats of the Japanese Embassy as well as representatives of the relevant Chinese departments, organizations and research institutes, Japanese enterprises in China and the Chinese and Japanese media, about 150 people in total, attended the party.

In his speech at the party, CJFA President Song Jian affirmed the positive contributions made last year by the friends who worked at the forefront of China-Japan economic cooperation to the improvement and development of China-Japan relations. Song said, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to China last year resulted in a favourable turn of the relations between the two countries. Bilateral trade volumes for the first time topped US$ 200 billion. The year 2007 marks the 35th anniversary of the normalization of China-Japan diplomatic relations and is also the Year of China-Japan Cultural and Sports Exchanges. Premier Wen Jiabao’s coming official visit to Japan in April is an important opportunity for promoting the development of bilateral relations and will definitely give new impetus to their development and open up new prospects. In the new year the CJFA is willing to make joint efforts with the friends in the Japanese economic circles to further develop China-Japan economic and trade cooperation, continuously safeguard the overall interests of China-Japan relations and enhance friendship between the two peoples.

JCCC President Makoto Isogai said, while the Japanese enterprises in China make contribution to China’s development, they also enjoy the benefits brought about by China’s rapid economic growth. The Japanese enterprises in China hope to become excellent “corporate citizens” in the Chinese society.

In his speech, Japanese Ambassador Yuji Miyamoto said, thanks to the political resolution made by the heads of state of the two countries last year, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made a successful visit to China and Japan-China relations have seen an improvement. The Japanese Government and people are looking forward to Premier Wen’s official goodwill visit to Japan and are sure that the visit will be a success. Ambassador Miyamoto extended his respects to the CJFA for its unremitting efforts for the development of China-Japan relations over the years.

At the party, both sides announced the “Contact Japanese Enterprises and Experience Japan” programme for Chinese university students’ visit to Japan which will start in May, 2007. This programme is an activity of exchanges between the Chinese and Japanese youth jointly sponsored for the first time by the CJFA and the JCCC. For 5 consecutive years starting from 2007, every year 30 to 60 Chinese university students will be sent to visit Japan for a short time with the aim of enhancing mutual understanding between the younger generation of the two countries through visiting Japanese enterprises, conducting exchanges between universities, investigating rural areas and staying at ordinary Japanese people’s homes so as to establish a more stable good-neighbourly friendly relations between China and Japan.