ＣＰＡＦＦＣ Ｖｉｃｅ Ｐｒｅｓｉｄｅｎｔ Ｌｉ Ｘｉａｏｌｉｎ ａｎｄ Ｈｅｒ Ｐａｒｔｙ Ｖｉｓｉｔ Ｊａｐａｎ

CPAFFC Vice President Li Xiaolin paid a 4-day working visit to Japan at the head of a delegation of the China Friendship Foundation of Peace and Development (CFFPD) from February 17 to 20.

On the afternoon of Feb. 17， as soon as getting off the plane， the delegation went straight from the airport to the KKR Hotel Tokyo to attend the welcoming reception hosted by the Foundation of Southeast Asian Friendship and Culture Association of Japan. Present at the reception were well-known public figures of the Japanese political， economic and cultural circles as well as representatives of the Chinese students studying in Japan. Among them were Kazuo Tanigawa， former minister of justice; Yoshinori Ono， member of the House of Representatives of the Liberal Democratic Party and former director general of the Defence Agency; Chiaki Takahashi， member of the House of Councillors; Shotaro Miyake， professor of the Teikyo Heisei University; Koji Yamazaki， former governor of the International Monetary Fund， and Teiichi Igarashi， director general of the organization for supporting Chinese students and exchange. Vice President Li Xiaolin was invited to speak at the reception. She briefed those present on cooperation the CPAFFC and the CFFPD have carried out with Japan in recent years and then recalled the history of friendly contact between China and Japan in the past more than two thousand years. On the problems concerning the present Sino-Japanese relations， she said， due to the reasons known to all， there was an unpleasant period between China and Japan. But this should not become a gap that makes the two countries hostile to each other forever. The present difficulty of Sino-Japanese relations is the result of Japanese leader’s insistence on paying homage to the Yasukuni Shine that honours class A criminals of World War II in disregard of the feelings of the people of China and the rest of Asia. The Chinese Government and people have been making unremitting efforts to improve bilateral relations. China’s efforts won’t be enough without the positive response from the Japanese side. On the question whether China will be a threat to other countries when it is developed， the vice president explained， the Chinese people believe in the concept that peace is most valuable and advocate that dispute should be settled through peaceful means. China has always adhered to the policy of creating an amicable， secure and prosperous neighbourhood in developing friendly relations with other countries， which receives favourable comments from its neighbouring countries. China and Japan are separated by a strip of water. If the water is pumped out， our two countries will be joined by land. That is why we say that Japan is an important neighbour of ours and that no one else needs more to maintain and attaches greater importance to developing Sino-Japanese friendship. She pointed out， though China has experienced rapid development for the last more than 20 years and its GDP has ranked among the first few in the world， but due to its large population， per capita GDP last year was only 1，200 US dollars which is very low. We are faced with many problems such as damages to the environment， short supply of energy， the widening gap between the rich and the poor， etc.， which are the reasons for us to devote our efforts to building a harmonious society. China needs stability and the steady development of China is a great contribution to the world. I believe that it will also bring benefit to Japan. Li’s speech was highly appraised.

On February 18， the delegation called on well-known Japanese musician Shinji Tanimura and his wife. Mr. Tanimura told the delegation about his plans for cultural exchanges between the children and youth of Japan and China. He proposed to hold the first Japan-China children and youth international cultural festival in 2006 with the aims of promoting bilateral cultural exchanges through music and providing a stage for the children and youth and amateurs of the two countries to show their artistic talents. He also volunteered to donate 3 million Japanese yen (about 200，000 RMB yuan) to set up a Japan-China Children and Youth Cultural Exchange Fund under the CFFPD as the starting fund. The Vice President thanked Mr. and Mrs. Tanimura for their support for the work of the CFFPD and their contributions to cultural exchanges between China and Japan over the years. Besides， Xia Guozhu， secretary general of the CFFPD， held talks with the Mount Huangshan Arts Society of Japan on the setting up of a fund for the recovery and protection of Chinese cultural relics. The two sides held that it is the common aspiration of personages of insight all over the world to protect cultural relics and that nongovernmental organizations should participate in the work of returning and protecting cultural relics so that precious Chinese cultural relics that have been smuggled out of the country will be returned to their home country. The Mount Huangshan Arts Society expressed its willingness to donate the first sum of fund to the CFFPD for the recovery and protection of cultural relics.

In September this year， the World Water Congress， sponsored by the International Water Association， will be held in Beijing. The environmental protection programmes for public welfare of the CFFPD this year also focus on the protection of water. With the protection of environment and water resources in mind， the delegation had extensive contact with the Japanese business circles on the subject and had talks with relevant personages of the enterprises engaged in waste water treatment.

The delegation also called on Daisan Kikaku Inc. of Japan. The two sides reached agreement on the visit to Japan by the baseball team of the Primary School attached to Peking University and the visit to China by the Japanese RBA Baseball delegation.