Ｊａｐａｎｅｓｅ Ｙｏｕｎｇ Ｄｉｅｔｍｅｎ’ｓ Ｄｅｌｅｇａｔｉｏｎ Ｖｉｓｉｔｓ Ｃｈｉｎａ

Invited by the China-Japan Friendship Association， a seven-member delegation of Japanese young dietmen visited China from January 11 to 14. Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong and State Councillor Tang Jiaxuan met with the delegation respectively. CPAFFC President Chen Haosu met with the delegation and hosted a banquet in its honour.

Vice President Zeng Qinghong’s Reception

Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong met with the delegation on January 12. Present at the meeting were Chen Haosu， CPAFFC president， Hu Chunhua， first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League of China， Wang Yi， Chinese ambassador to Japan， Cui Tiankai， assistant foreign minister， Jing Dunquan， CPAFFC vice president， and Hidehisa Horinouchi， minister of the Japanese Embassy in China.

Vice President Zeng said， the fathers and elder brothers of most of the Japanese friends present here were forerunners of China-Japan friendship and old friends of the Chinese people. In their lifetime they persisted in the cause of China-Japan friendship and made unremitting efforts and valuable contributions to developing exchanges and cooperation in all fields between the two countries and to enhancing mutual understanding and friendly feelings between the two peoples. “Remember the well digger when drinking water”. The Chinese people will never forget what they had contributed to Sino-Japanese friendship. With the passage of time， a younger generation has come to the fore in the Japanese political arena. Zeng expressed the hope that those at the meeting would carry on the behests of their predecessors and take up the historic mission of realizing a healthy and steady development of Sino-Japanese relations.

Zeng said， the Chinese side attaches great importance to exchanges and cooperation in all fields between the two countries. He noted， this year marks the 35th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan. In the past 35 years， the two countries have achieved marked progress in the exchanges and cooperation in the political， economic， cultural， scientific and technological， educational， friendship cities and other fields. China-Japan friendship is hard won， which the two sides should cherish dearly. The two countries should further strengthen exchanges in all sectors， enhance mutual understanding and trust between the two peoples， expand the mutually-beneficial friendly cooperation and consolidate the foundation of China-Japan friendship.

Zeng pointed out， at present， Sino-Japanese relations are at an important period of development. To consolidate and expand the improved bilateral relations so as to ensure their long-term and steady growth conforms to the interests of both countries and accords with the aspirations of the two peoples. It is also a mission on the shoulder of the governments and statesmen of the two countries. The Chinese Government has always set great store by the Sino-Japanese relations and is willing to develop good-neighbourly relations of friendship and cooperation in the spirit of “drawing lessons from history and looking to the future”. Although the two countries encountered serious difficulties in their relations in recent years， the determination of the Chinese side to work for achieving the lofty goals of peaceful coexistence， lasting friendship， mutually-beneficial cooperation and common development is firm and unshakable.

Meeting with State Councillor Tang Jiaxuan

On January 11， State Councillor Tang Jiaxuan met with the Japanese young Dietmen’s delegation.

Tang Jiaxuan spoke highly of the active efforts and valuable contributions made by the fathers and elder brothers of the members of the delegation to the Sino-Japanese relations. Tang said， well-known Japanese statesmen Zentaro Kosaka， Noboru Takeshita， Masaharu Gotoda， Keizo Obuchi， Ryutaro Hashimoto， and others were old friends of the Chinese people， who had made important contributions to improving and advancing bilateral relations in their lifetime. The Chinese people will always cherish the memory of their firm belief in China-Japan friendship and their valuable spirit of dedicating themselves to this cause. Tang expressed his hope and conviction that the successors of the two countries would carry on the behests of their predecessors， stick firmly to the road of Sino-Japanese friendship and make new contributions to the improvement and development of bilateral relations.

Tang said， reviewing the past year， the 5-year-long abnormal state of bilateral relations has ended. Looking into the future， the two countries are faced with a new situation for developing friendship and cooperation. The two sides should work hard to make greater headway in their relations this year. In October last year， Prime Minister Shinzo Abe successfully visited China. The leaders of the two countries reached important consensus on building a strategic relationship of mutual benefit between China and Japan and realizing the lofty goal of “peaceful coexistence， lasting friendship， mutually beneficial cooperation and common development” between the two countries， which has given impetus to the exchanges and cooperation in various fields. The two sides should continue to consolidate and expand this momentum of improvement and development to ensure the long-term sound growth of bilateral relations.