ＪＡＣＭ Ｄｅｌｅｇａｔｉｏｎ Ｖｉｓｉｔｓ Ｃｈｉｎａ ａｎｄ Ａｔｔｅｎｄｓ Ｃｈｉｎａ－Ｊａｐａｎ Ｍａｙｏｒｓ’ Ｆｏｒｕｍ

At the invitation of the CPAFFC， a 9-member delegation of the Japan Association of City Mayors (JACM) led by Tamotsu Yamade， president of the JACM and mayor of Kanazawa City， paid a visit to Beijing and Xi’an from April 25 to 29， 2004. Wang Zhaoguo， vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress， and Song Jian， president of the China-Japan Friendship Association (CJFA)， met with the delegation on different occasions. The delegation attended the China-Japan Mayors’ Forum.

NPC Vice Chairman Wang Zhaoguo Meeting

with the Delegation

On the afternoon of April 26， Wang Zhaoguo， vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress， met with the delegation in the Great Hall of the People.

Wang Zhaoguo expressed his welcome to the delegation to visit China on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of exchanges of mayors’ visits between the JACM and China， and congratulations on the successful convening of the China-Japan Mayors’ Forum. He spoke highly of the contributions made by the JACM over the years to developing Sino-Japanese friendship， especially to enhancing friendship and understanding between leaders at the municipal level and promoting friendly cooperation between friendship cities of the two countries. He said， China-Japan relations， on the whole， are good. But， there are still difficulties and twists and turns in the relations between the two countries. As long as the two countries strictly abide by the principles set in the Sino-Japanese Joint Statement and the other two important political documents and properly handle the problems existing in the bilateral relations in the spirit of “drawing lessons from history and looking to the future”， Sino-Japanese relations will surely continue to develop. Wang pointed out， looking back on the history of the development of Sino-Japanese relations， friendship between the two peoples has played an important role. Many nongovernmental personnel and organizations in the two countries have consistently dedicated themselves to the cause of Sino-Japanese friendship and made unique and important contributions to it. In the future， nongovernmental organizations will have a role to play in more and more areas. It is of great significance that this time the Chinese and Japanese mayors jointly held the forum to exchange views on the problems of common concern. Mayors of both countries all wish to run， build and develop their cities well. They have different experiences in municipal administration， urban construction， and how to properly handle the relations between development of modern economy and protection of traditional culture， which are worth learning from each other. Wang hoped that exchanges between the local governments of the two countries would have greater development.

Tamotsu Yamade said， the Japanese and Chinese people have similar cultures， and Japan-China friendship is in conformity with the fundamental interests of the two peoples. Through the channel of friendship cities， the two countries have established close relations in economic cooperation and exchanges in culture and between the youth. The JACM is glad to continue to work for it.

China-Japan Mayors’ Forum

On the morning of April 26， the China-Japan Mayors’ Forum jointly sponsored by the CJFA and the JACM was held in Beijing. The theme of the Forum was prospects for the exchanges between cities of China and Japan in the new century. Mayors from Chinese cities including Lanzhou， Kunming， Nanchang， Zunyi and Liuyang and Japanese cities including Kanazawa， Akita， Takamatsu and Toyosaka and other leaders of various departments concerned attended the Forum.

Chen Yongchang， vice president of the CJFA， spoke at the opening ceremony. He said， with the continuous development of economic globalization and regional economic integration， the cooperation between the local governments of the two countries has broad prospects of development in the future. The CJFA is willing to continue to serve as a bridge and play a role in promoting further cooperation between cities of the two countries.

Lu Shouxiang， mayor of Zunyi City， and Tamotsu Yamade， mayor of Kanazawa City， respectively on behalf of the Chinese and Japanese mayors， spoke at the opening ceremony. They both held that the Forum had an important significance， for it gave mayors of the two countries a rare chance to discuss the problems of common concern and deepen understanding between each other.

Kong Xuanyou， deputy director general of the Department of Asian Affairs of the Foreign Ministry， on behalf of the Foreign Ministry， expressed his congratulations at the forum.

After the opening ceremony， mayors of the two countries spoke on the subjects such as exchanges between friendship cities， urban construction， environmental protection， etc.

On the issue of cooperation between friendship cities， Zhang Zhiyin， mayor of Lanzhou， pointed out， development needs cooperation while cooperation promotes development. Under the current new situation of economic globalization， cooperation and development are our common themes. Lanzhou and Akita formed friendship city ties more than 20 years ago， and the two cities have carried out fruitful cooperation in many fields， which has played a positive role in promoting Lanzhou’s economic development and opening up. With the implementation of the strategy of developing China’s western region， Lanzhou has opened wider to the outside world and has broader prospects of cooperation with cities in other countries. Lei Xiaoming， vice mayor of Kunming， and Liang Xiaokang， vice mayor of Nanchang， said， cooperation between friendship cities is an effective way to help the two sides learn from each other’s superiorities and to make up for their deficiencies. New contents should be continuously added to such cooperation so that it can really better benefit the people of the two countries. As Zunyi and Liuyang have not yet twinned friendship-city ties with any of the Japanese cities， Lu Shouxiang， mayor of Zunyi， and Tang Jianxin， vice mayor of Liuyang， respectively gave a briefing about the characteristics of their own cities and hoped to twin friendship ties with Japanese cities as soon as possible.

Environmental protection was an issue discussed most warmly. Tamotsu Yamade， mayor of Kanazawa， said humorously that the sands blown from China to Japan every spring fully proved that Japan and China are close neighbours separated only by a strip of water and that the environmental protection is a global issue. Taking Kanazawa citizens planting trees in Alashan Area of Inner Mongolia as an example， he stressed that it is very important for the people in the world to work together to protect environment. Japan had learned lessons in handling the relationship between economic development and environmental protection. Now Japanese cities including Kanazawa are taking active measures to protect environment such as reducing the amount of garbage， no environmental pollution caused by garbage， recycling waste materials， saving energy， etc.， and to raise the whole society’s awareness of environmental protection. Lu Shouxiang， mayor of Zunyi， said， a profound lesson in the progress of humankind is that man has not correctly handled the relationship between material and ecological civilizations. It needs awareness of the broad general environment to solve the problem of environment. The people of the whole world should work together， foster the concept of sustainable development， never develop economy at the cost of sacrificing environment and disrupting sustainable development and correctly handle the relationship between economic development and environmental protection.

As to the urban construction， Tamatsu Yamade said， though Japan and China have different social systems， mayors of the two countries have the same tasks and goals of vitalizing the economy of their cities and providing good residential and living environment for their citizens. Takeji Kogawa， mayor of Toyosaka， said in his speech， Toyosaka City is located in the middle of the area surrounded by the Japan Sea. The goal of its construction in the future is to become the distributing centre of the international trade in Northeast Asia with China as the major trade partner. Lei Xiaoming， vice mayor of Kunming， said Kunming will make use of its own geographical advantages and the opportunity of developing China’s western region and play its unique role in the construction of China-ASEAN Trade Zone.

Both Chinese and Japanese mayors thought this kind of forums was good， helping enhance mutual understanding and deepen friendship. In the future in accordance with the development of the times， contents of the forum should be enriched and more exchanges between mayors of the two countries be carried out.