ＣＰＡＦＦＣ Ｐｒｅｓｉｄｅｎｔ Ｃｈｅｎ Ｈａｏｓｕ Ｌｅａｄｓ ａ Ｄｅｌｅｇａｔｉｏｎ ｔｏ Ｊａｐａｎ

At the invitation of the Japan-China Cultural Exchange Association (JCCEA)， a CPAFFC delegation led by its President Chen Haosu paid a visit to Tokyo and Niigata of Japan from July 2 to 7， 2007. The delegation paid official calls on Taro Aso， Japanese foreign minister， Fujio Mitarai，chairman of the Japanese Organizing Committee of the China-Japan Cultural and Sports Exchange Year and chairman of the Japan Federation of Economic Organizations， Takashi Tsujii，president of the JCCEA， and Hirohiko Izumida，governor of Niigata Prefecture， and exchanged views in depth with them on consolidating the current good momentum of development of bilateral relations and further strengthening exchanges and cooperation in the political， economic and cultural fields.

Personages of Japan’s various circles held that the two countries should take advantage of the present favourable situation to further strengthen exchanges and cooperation in various fields and maintain the good development momentum of China-Japan relations. When meeting with the personages of Japanese political and economic circles， CPAFFC President Chen Haosu expressed his appreciation of the efforts made by the Japanese farsighted personages of various circles to save the situation and promote a healthy development of China-Japan relations. Chen said， at present， the bilateral relations， on the whole， are good. During Premier Wen Jiabao’s successful visit to Japan in April 2007， the two sides defined the contents， the framework and the key areas of cooperation of China-Japan strategic relations of mutual benefits， further consolidated the momentum of improvement and development of the bilateral relations and gave the relations a new good start. The year 2007 marks the 35th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan， and is designated the China-Japan Cultural and Sports Exchange Year. The two countries will hold rich and colourful commemorative activities. Chen said， we are willing to collaborate with Japan to carry out the activities smoothly and further enhance the mutual understanding and friendly feelings between the people particularly the younger generation of the two countries to promote a continuous healthy development of the bilateral relations and add an illustrious chapter of the second 35 years to the annals of development of China-Japan relations.

People of various circles of Japan spoke highly of the efforts and contributions made by the CPAFFC to promoting China-Japan people-to-people exchanges and cooperation and developing bilateral relations. They said， Japan-China friendship is the trend of the times and expresses the feelings of the people. The two sides should take the opportunity of the 35th anniversary of the normalization and the Japan-China Cultural and Sports Exchange Year to further consolidate and develop bilateral friendly relations. In his meeting with the delegation， Taro Aso expressed his hope that the activities for commemorating the 35th anniversary of the normalization and the Japan-China Cultural and Sports Exchange Year would push the Japan-China friendship to a climax and continuously enhance friendship between the people， particularly the younger generation of the two countries. The exchange of visits by senior middle school students of the two countries initiated last year has achieved good results. Through visiting each other’s country， the students of the two countries have deepened mutual understanding and enhanced friendship. In the future， besides continuing to expand the scale of exchanges， the two sides should further intensify the follow-up exchanges after the students return home so as to make the friendship last between the young people.

Fujio Mitarai said， in the past 35 years since the normalization of bilateral diplomatic relations， Japan-China economic relations have experienced continuous development. Particularly since China joined the WTO and further opened its market， bilateral economic cooperation has become closer. With the successful visits to each other’s countries by the leaders of the two countries， Japan-China political relations have returned to the track of normal development， which will definitely exert positive impacts on the development of bilateral economic relations. The Japanese side is willing to make efforts to ensure smooth conducting of various kinds of commemorative activities of the Japan-China Cultural and Sports Exchange Year.

Hirohiko Izumida，governor of Niigata Prefecture and Toshiharu Miyasaki， vice mayor of Niigata City， said， they would carry forward the behest of the older generation of the two countries to develop Japan-China friendly relations， further promote and expand the exchanges and cooperation between the local governments and work hard for enhancing friendship between the two peoples and developing Japan-China relations.

At the welcoming reception held by the Japanese side， the CPAFFC delegation made extensive contacts with the personages of the cultural circles and called for strengthening China-Japan cultural exchanges and making continuous efforts to develop China-Japan friendly relations. On July 3， the JCCEA held a grand welcoming reception in Tokyo. 300 Japanese personages of various circles attended it. In his speech at the reception， CPAFFC President Chen Haosu spoke highly of the contributions made in half a century by the JCCEA， an important channel for cultural exchanges between the two countries，to the normalization of diplomatic relations and the development of bilateral relations.

Chen Haosu said， Premier Wen Jiabao pointed out， in the history of friendly contacts between China and Japan in more than 2，000 years， there are two ties closely linking the two countries: One is the economic tie， the other the cultural tie. Chen said， culture is the language of the heart and art is the conveyor of feelings. Culture and art help build a bridge linking the hearts and feelings of the people of the two countries. Cultural exchange has always been an important component part of the people-to-people exchanges between the two countries. Especially since the normalization of bilateral relations in 1972， the cultural exchanges and cooperation have made an all-round development in both governmental and nongovernmental aspects through multiple channels and in various forms， and presented a new situation， effectively linking the feelings between the two peoples and promoting the development of China-Japan relations.

Chen continued， the realization of the great aspiration of lasting friendship between the two countries requires everyone’s participation. He called on all friends who loved peace and treasured friendship to make joint efforts and through “enhancing trust by cultural exchanges” and “promoting governmental relations through non-governmental channels” continue to strive for lasting friendship between the two peoples.

The personages of the Japanese cultural circles gave a positive response to Chen’s speech， expressing their willingness to work together with the Chinese side to further strengthen exchanges and cooperation in the cultural and other fields and enhance friendly sentiments of the two peoples towards each other. Takashi Tsujii，president of the JCCEA， said， not long before， Chinese Premier Wen made a successful visit to Japan and had extensive exchanges with Japan’s various circles， evoking strong repercussions. This was a real “ice-thawing visit”. Currently Japan-China relations are at a critical moment of further consolidating the relations of mutual trust between the two peoples. The two countries should further expand people-to-people exchanges and cooperation particularly in the cultural field to push a continuous development of Japan-China relations. The JCCEA treasures the friendship with the CPAFFC established in the process of jointly pushing forward the cultural exchanges and the development of Japan-China relations， and is willing to continue to exert joint efforts to make new contributions to building a stable Japan-China friendly relations.