Ｍｅｍｂｅｒ ｏｆ Ｊａｐａｎｅｓｅ Ｈｏｕｓｅ ｏｆ Ｒｅｐｒｅｓｅｎｔａｔｉｖｅｓ Ｋｅｎｔａ Ｍａｔｓｕｎａｍｉ Ａｎｄ Ｈｉｓ Ｐａｒｔｙ ｉｎ Ｂｅｉｊｉｎｇ

At the invitation of the CPAFFC，a 6-member delegation of the Citizens’ Forum of Takatsuki and Shimamoto (CFTS)， with Kenta Matsunami， member of the Japanese House of Representatives from the Liberal Democratic Party and parliamentary secretary for health， labour and welfare as its advisor， and Usuki Sensuke， president of the CFTS， as its leader paid a visit to Beijing from December 21 to 22， 2007. Ding Xiang- yang， vice mayor of Beijing， and Wang Xiaoxian， vice president of the China-Japan Friendship Association (CJFA) separately met with and entertained the delegation. The delegation visited the enterprises of the Japan Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.， Ltd. in Beijing.

Citizens’ Forum Works for

Japan-China Friendship

Kenta Matsunami， 36， advisor to the CFTS and the delegation， graduated from Waseda University and elected member of the House of Representatives in October 2002， is one of the youngest politicians in Japan. He successively served as a leading official of the Health， Labour and Welfare Department of the Liberal Democratic Party and member of the Law Committee of the House of Representatives and since August 2007 as parliamentary secretary for health， labour and welfare. He is friendly to China and said once and again， that as a young politician he wished to make contributions to Japan-China friendship.

The CFTS was established in 1999 with the aim of helping the governments， enterprises， trade unions and citizens of Takatsuki and its neigbouring areas coexist harmoniously， constantly improving the people’s living environment and livelihood and continuing to promote local political democracy and making contributions to the social development of the region.

Usuki Sensuke， head of the delegation and chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the Japan Panasonic Home Appliances and Lighting Alliance， is chairman of the Forum. Advisors to the Forum include mayor of Takatsuki， members of the House of Representatives from the Liberal Democratic Party， the Social Democratic Party and the Democratic Party， and chairman of the Board of Directors of the Japan Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.， Ltd. The Forum has about 20，000 members in Japan and every year organizes goodwill delegations to visit China.

The aim of the delegation’s visit to China was to learn about the preparations for the Beijing Olympic Games， the urban development plans， environmental protection， citizens’ life as well as the present condition of the Japanese enterprises in Beijing， further promote exchanges and cooperation between Japan and China in various fields and push forward the cause of Japan-China friendship.

Vice Mayor of Beijing

Meets with the Delegation

During his meeting with the delegation， Vice Mayor Ding Xiangyang， at the request of the Japanese guests， briefed them on Beijing’s urban construction and environmental protection. He said， in the past more than ten years， Beijing has developed rapidly and maintained double-digit economic growth. Both the Chinese people and foreigners can feel these changes from which ordinary people have gained substantial benefits. But， along with the urban modernization， because of lack of experience， the problem of environmental pollution has cropped up and aroused more and more concern both at home and abroad. He told the guests that they came at the season when Beijing’s air quality was the worst.

Ding said， Beijing is an international metropolis where the 2008 Olympic Games will be held. So， the municipal government pays great attention to the environmental problem. In order to keep the municipal leaders informed of the Beijing’s air quality and enhance their sense of urgency， tens of environment observation stations have been set up in the city’s surrounding districts and counties. The collected data of the air quality is timely shown on the screen in the hall of the municipal government building every day. We are under great pressure when the capital’s air quality is bad.

Ding continued， to improve the environment， the government has， in the past few years， spent 100 billion RMB yuan mainly on reducing pollutant emission and moving the enterprises that cause serious pollution out of Beijing. For example， the Capital Iron and Steel Company has reduced its annual steel output from 8 million tons to 4 million tons and its main production enterprises have been moved to Hebei Province. In addition， we are trying hard to use wind and geothermal energy. Through our efforts， people living in about 30 million square metres of housing will start to use geothermal energy in the near future. Meanwhile， we pay great attention to energy conservancy. For example， energy-saving lighting is recommended to the public. The air conditioned government offices， shops and enterprises’ buildings are required to keep the temperature not below 26 degrees Celsius in summer. All lights in the offices are required to be turned off when there is no one working there. We also pay attention to water conservancy. All units with feasible conditions are required to build water storage ponds. There is a water storage pond in the municipal government compound. Now pollution in Beijing has been reduced and environment improved.

Kenta Matsunami thanked Vice Mayor Ding for meeting with him in the midst of pressing affairs. He briefed about Japan’s practice and experience in environmental protection and the work done by the CFTS for Japan-China friendship. When talking about Japan-China friendship， he said， “I am 36 years old and Vice Mayor Ding 48. We are young Japanese and Chinese politicians. We should work together to make greater contributions to Japan-China friendship and let the friendship between the people of our two countries last from generation to generation.”

Wang Xiaoxian Recalls Friendship

between Deng Xiaoping and

Konosuke Matsushita

At the banquet in honour of the delegation， CJFA Vice President Wang Xiaoxian， on behalf of Chen Haosu and Luo Qin， CPAFFC president and secretary general， extended welcome to the delegation’s visit to China. On learning that most of the members of the delegation were staffers of the Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.， Ltd.， she said， the Matsushita Corporation is the first Japanese enterprise to invest in China at the beginning of China’s reform and opening up， embodying China-Japan friendship.

She recalled with feelings Comrade Deng Xiaoping’s meetings with Konosuke Matsushita. She said， in the autumn of 1978， to demonstrate that the Chinese Government attached great importance to the Sino-Japanese Peace and Friendship Treaty， the then Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping decided to attend the ceremony for exchange of instruments of ratification of the treaty and pay a visit to Japan. She served as the interpreter and accompanied Deng Xiaoping on that visit of historic significance. It was one of China’s national leaders’ first visit to Japan since the two countries normalized their diplomatic relations. Deng was accorded warm welcome and a grand reception by the Japanese leaders and people.

During his inspection tour in Osaka， Comrade Deng Xiaoping visited a factory of the Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.， Ltd.Konosuke Matshshita， at the age of 83， known as the “god of business management”， welcomed Deng outside the gate of the factory and showed him round the factory. After the visit Deng wrote: “China-Japan friendship has bright prospects” on the visitors’ autograph album and said， we came here to meet you with an attitude of learning from you. In the past China neither had external nor internal debts. We felt proud of it. In the future we want to modernize our country and are prepared to introduce foreign technologies and capital on the basis of self-reliance. Without electronic industry， modernization can not be realized.So I hope your electronic industry can be introduced into China. Konosuke Matsushita was very much interested in it， expressing his willingness to visit China. In June 1979， invited by the CJFA he paid a visit to China. Comrade Deng Xiaoping met with him happily and said to him:“We need to introduce advanced technologies to help upgrade our industries. Otherwise， our modernization would lag behind others.” Matsushita said: “I am determined to help China modernize its electronic industry.”

In 1980 Mr. Matsushita visited China again， beginning the Matsushita Electric Industrial Corporation’s investment and setting up factories in China. At that time many foreign enterprises took a skeptical attitude towards China’s reform and opening up. When they were taking a wait-and-see attitude， Matsushita resolutely made the decision to have cooperation with China. In 1987 with great support from the Chinese Government and the departments concerned， Beijing’s first joint venture， the Beijing Matsushita Colour CRT Co.， Ltd. (BMCC)， was set up. Since then， great amounts of foreign capital have flown into China.

CJFA Vice President Wang said， Premier Zhou Enlai once said that China-Japan friendship not only benefits the people of the two countries， but also helps promote the stability in Asia and peace in the world. She said， I am happy to see that so many young Japanese friends in the delegation are enthusiastic for the cause of China-Japan friendship. We， workers of the older generation for friendship， feel more confident in lasting friendship between the two countries.

PLBC Works to Enhance

China-Japan Friendship

The Japan Panasonic Home Appliances and Lighting Alliance led by Usuki Sensuke has more than 40 enterprises in Japan and many enterprises in other parts of the world including Japan-China joint ventures and enterprises of Japanese exclusive investment in Beijing， Shanghai， Guangzhou and Xian. The Panasonic Lighting (Beijing) Co.， Ltd. (PLBC) that the delegation visited is one of them.

During the visit Nobutaka Ota， general manager of the company and a member of the delegation， gave a briefing about the company. He said， the PLBC， originally subordinate to the BMCC and solely invested by the Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.， Ltd.， is a large enterprise producing lamps. Setting up in 1995， it separated from the BMCC and formally registered as an independent company in 2001. Now it has factory buildings with a space of 10，000 square metres and over 500 high-quality workers and staff. In 2005 it set up a branch in Langfang， Hebei Province， producing glasses used in making lamps.

The PLBC now has 4 fluorescent lamp production lines of world’s advanced level with an annual production capacity of 32 million lamps. Its products are sold in China and also exported to Japan， Southeast Asia， Europe and the United States.

He said， recently they had developed environment-friendly products to support China’s effort in environmental protection. These products of high quality， long service time， electricity saving and good luminance are popular with the Chinese customers， though their prices are 30% higher than those in the same category in the market.

In the 21st century the PLBC is full of confidence to continue introducing and developing high-quality illuminants that integrate modern science and technology with cultural pursuits and help promote the development of China’s environmental conservation.