ＣＰＡＦＦＣ Ｖｉｃｅ Ｐｒｅｓｉｄｅｎｔ Ｃｈｅｎ Ｙｏｎｇｃｈａｎｇ Ｖｉｓｉｔｓ Ｊａｐａｎ

CPAFFC Vice President Chen Yongchang and his party paid a working visit to Japan from March 14 to 21， 2004. Aiming at increasing exchanges with Japan’s localities， they visited Utsunomiya City of Totsigi Prefecture， Anamizu Town of Ishikawa Prefecture， Nanao city， Hakui City， Tatsuruhama Town， had extensive contacts and friendly exchanges with personages of the political， economic， cultural and educational circles and met with Akio Fukuda， governor of Totsigi， Masamori Tanimoto， governor of Ishikawa， and mayors of the above cities and chairmen of the Assemblies of Nanao City and Tatsuruhama Town.

Vice President Chen gave five lectures entitled Sino-Japanese Friendship and its Future Prospects in the above cities and towns， which were warmly received.

In his lectures Chen Yongchang briefed on the achievements China had made in its economic construction since the reform and opening up and with full and accurate figures illustrated changes brought about by the economic development to the livelihood of the Chinese people and expounded the strategy of scientific economic growth adopted at the 2nd session of the 10th National Congress recently held. On Sino-Japanese relations， Chen looked back on the course of the development of bilateral relations in the past more than 30 years since the normalization of diplomatic relations. On some problems existing in the bilateral relations， Chen expounded China’s policy and stand by presenting facts and reasoning things out， which won understanding and acceptance.

After the lectures many people one after another asked questions concerning politics， economy， culture， education tourism and even dietary habits. Chen gave detailed answers to all questions in the way that was acceptable to the Japanese people by quoting authoritative works and giving vivid examples， which won warm applause and aroused hearty laughter. The atmosphere was very lively.

Due to the tight schedule of Chen’s visit in Japan， some local businessmen specially came to the hotel where the delegation stayed to ask questions that they were concerned about such as China’s investment environment， economic policy， etc. Chen not only answered their questions， but also gave them suggestions， and invited them to visit China to make on-the-spot investigation.

In Ishikawa the delegation visited an old friend Misoji Sakamoto， chief cabinet secretary of the Toshiki Kaifu Cabinet. Sakamoto is very friendly to China. After withdrawing from political life， he has been recuperating from an illness in his hometown Anamizu， Ishikawa. Chen Yongchang and his party specially went to see him at his home. The local Hokkoku Press gave report about the visit under the title of When You Drink Water， Think of Those Who Dug the Well to praise the Chinese people’s profound friendship.

The delegation also visited Nanao and Hakui， and discussed with the Japanese side about cultural exchanges. Taysuruhama Town is famous for timber products. Takashi Akasaka， head of the town， told the delegation that no Chinese had ever visited the town before. This time head of the Town and chairman of the Town Assembly called all the officials and members of the Assembly together to listen to the briefing about China given by the delegation. They hoped that they could carry out friendly exchanges with China through the CPAFFC.

After talking with the delegation， many Japanese friends expressed their wish to carry out exchanges with China. In May the CPAFFC will receive a delegation composed of over 100 people from economic， scientific， technological， agricultural， cultural and educational circles of Ishikawa. In June the Art Gallery of Ishikawa and the Hokushitennkai will jointly hold an exhibition of the Origin of Ancient Chinese Characters to publicize the long-standing Chinese culture.