Recovering Japan-Sino Economic & Trade Relation Brings New opportunities for Cooperation & Innovation

\"Japan and China are in different stages for economic development and these two countries have their own advantages. Therefore， the Chinese and Japanese enterprises are highly complementary and have great potential to cooperate in future，\" said Jiang Zengwei， chairman of the CCPIT on the Sino-Japan Entrepreneurs Dialogue held on November 2nd， 2015.

The Sino-Japan Entrepreneurs Dialogue was jointly held by the CCPIT and Japan-China Economic Association. About 320 delegates from the Chinese and Japanese business domains attended the Dialogue and conducted in-depth communication and discussion around two themes- \"innovation strategy for the Chinese and Japanese enterprises facing 2020\" and \"global business cooperation\".

According to Jiang， against the current backdrop of sluggish world economy， China is carrying out a new round of high-level opening up policies， accelerating to build a new and open economic mechanism， actively promoting the construction of free trade areas， protecting investors' legitimate rights， facilitating trade and investment and continuously improving the domestic investment environment. In the meantime， Japan is carrying out structural reform in terms of medical care， energy， agriculture and employment， encouraging corporate restructuring and equipment investment and introducing a series of policies to create a better environment for export， foreign investment， employment and corporate vigor. The Japanese and Chinese governments are sparing no efforts in improving the investment environment， which will bring golden historical opportunities for these two countries' business and commercial domains to deepen communication and cooperation. The Dialogue held this time is a concrete initiative to boost the cooperation in the business and commercial domain of these two countries.

It is learned that on November 2nd， the CCPIT signed Memorandum of Understanding with Japan-China Economic Association， Japanese Federation of Economic Organizations and Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry， aiming to creating more trade and investment opportunities for both the Japanese and Chinese enterprises.

Japan-Sino economic and trade relations are complementary rather than competitive

China is now Japan's largest trade partner and Japan is China's second largest trade partner. During the past nine months， the bilateral trade volume hit USD 206.95 billion， accounting for 7.1% in China's total foreign trade volume. At the same time，investment cooperation between Japan and China is growing rapidly. By the end of this September， Japan had invested USD 101.15 billion in China， claiming as the largest investment source for China. China's investment to Japan is also growing rapidly.

According to Jiang， China-Japan-Korea Investment Agreement has officially taken effect. And after eight rounds of negotiation， remarkable progress has been made for the Investment Agreement on free trade and pan-yellow river economic and technical cooperation is continuously advanced. At the same time， Japan and China have kept close communication and coordination in such bilateral and regional cooperation domains as World Trade Orrganization， G20， Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and comprehensive regional economic partnership agreement negotiation. All of these are promising for deepening Sino-Japanese economic and trade cooperation.

According to Jiang， \"Japan and China are highly complementary in terms of economic development with great potential for cooperation. As these two countries are in different development phases， they are complementary rather than competitive. Japan is leading in terms ofintelligent manufacturing， medical service， energy conservation environment protection and it is superior in RD， technology and talents. China has rich labor force with accelerating new industrialization， informatization， urbanization and agricultural modernization as well as ecological civilization construction， so it badly needs to introduce the advanced technologies and managerial expertise from Japan.\"

Meanwhile， Jiang said that Japan and China are implementing economic structural reform， which provides new cooperation opportunities for the Chinese and Japanese companies. In the upcoming five years， China will import commodities exceeding USD 10 trillion， invest over USD 500 billion abroad and witness more than 500 million outbound tourists. This will provide more market opportunities， growth， investme nt and cooperation opportunities for the countries across the world including Japan.

Shoji Muneoka， chairman of Japan-China Economic Association said that under the great support of the CCPIT， the Association began to send visiting delegations to China every year since 1975. This year， the Japanese Federation of Economic Organizations and Japan Chamber of Commerce Industry sent for the first time a united delegation with over 220 people， representing all the delegations ofthe Japanese economic domain. This all-time high delegation claims as the largest visiting delegation to China since last year. Shoji Muneoka said that \"the Japanese economic domain pays close attention to and places high expectation on improving the Japan-China relations.\"

Japan has proposed a development objective to achieve GDP of JPY 600 trillion by 2020 and the basic three-pillar policy of \"dynamic economy\"， \"children raising support\" and \"social insurance\". A series of measures unveiled byjapan to attract foreign capital， boost employment and stimulate corporate vigor are supporting the steady recovery of the Japanese economy and will bring more business opportunities for the Chinese enterprises. Shoji Muneoka said that facing the year of 2020， Japan and China will exchange opinions about innovation and global business cooperation， will bring their own advantages into full play and discuss new direction for industrial cooperation. Shoji Muneoka hopes that Japan and China may have the chance to cooperate.

Cross-border e-commerce promises great opportunities

Liu Qiangdong， CEO of Jingdong Group:

During the May Day and National Day holidays of this year， the Chinese outbound tourists bought out such commodities as toilet covers， rice and even kettles in the overseas shops， resulting in temporary goods shortage in many shops. Jingdong launched Japan Pavilion in June and that from placing order to receiving Japanese goods only takes 3-7 days for the Chinese consumers. And even for the herdsman in remote Tibet， we may also guarantee a 7-day delivery time to his pasture or his home.

I think cross-border e-commerce promises great development potential between Japan and China. In the past， lots of electronics poured into China， whereas many high-quality Japanese living goods haven't entered into the Chinese market in a large scale. Cross-border e-commerce is particularly suitable for the cross-border trade of long tail commodities， which will greatly support the Japanese brands and commodities to explore into the Chinese market.

Sun Weimin， vice president of Suning:

In the past 20 years ever since its foundation， Suning has established very close cooperation with many Japanese companies and such brands as Panasonic， Sony， Sharp and Nikon are our long-term suppliers.

In 2009， we invested a Japanese home appliance chain store Laox， which has a history of 79 years and over 30 chain stores. In the first half of this year， the sales volume surged 123% with a net profit 43 times oflast year. In the next three years， we aim to open 50 new Laox chain stores within Japan.

In May， we contracted the production line of the Japanese OJI Paper， which is expected to deliver 400 containers of customized paper diaper products throughout the year and the products will be sold to the Chinese market through Suning.com.

The Chinese economy is now in the course of upgrading and the Chinese consumers are entering into a new phase with money and time. We hope the Japanese companies will invest more in China and bring more quality products to the whole world by taking full use of China's superiority in terms oflabor force and production.

High-end manufacturing has great potential for cooperation

Shichun Heyan， President of Asahi Glass:

We regard that the Chinese companies have done very well in technology application in the local market and the business starts rapidly， which is the Chinese companies' competitiveness. The Japanese companies are doing well in efficiency. Cooperation between the Chinese and Japanese companies especially in the environment protection and energy conservation domain will bring great impact.

For instance， Asahi Glass has accumulated lots of experiences and technologies in glass production for addressing air pollution and for energy saving. Our company is cooperating with relevant Chinese companies. The environmental-friendly coating produced by Asahi Glass can be used in bridges to enhance durability for 30 years. Thiscannot only helps to cut cost， but also tosolve air pollution problems.

Jiang Yafei， vice persident of Huawei Group:

In recent years， we have set up RD and procurement center in Japan and via in-depth cooperation with excellent Japanese talents and the Japanese industrial domain， our cooperation is stepping into a new phase. With over 700 employees in Japan， Huawei joined the Federation of Economic Organizations in 2010 and we are a member with examination rights. Japan has now turned into Huawei's second largest global purchasing nation with an estimated purchasing volume of over USD 2.8 billion. At present， 50% spare parts of Huawei's smartphones come from Japan. The light， thin， short and small Japanese products have set a good example for Huawei， a leading player in the world， which means the spare parts from high-quality Japanese manufacturers are essential. Established in the year of 2013， Huawei's Research Institute in Japan boasts more than 100 Japanese employees. In February， Huawei Japan and Japan's Ministry of Education Culture conducted industrial cooperation to set up Huawei Award.

Food security is a common concern

Ning Gaoning， president of COFCO

China's demand for general food imports is on the decline， but demand for fodder and high-end food is on the rise. COFCO kept importing rice from Japan and in these years the rice imports have decreased， which is expected to recover in the future.

China needs to build up a long-term and stable supply channel for secure food， which is quite similar to Japan's concept. In the Chinese market， brand upgrading as well as consumer goods upgrading， RD and nutrition have become the mainstream. Japan's food industrial technology， product RD， incl. Japan's cold chain logistics and various food refinement enjoy great popularity in the Chinese market. I feel that the Chinese consumers are more likely to accept the Japanese food comparing with the European and American food， which provides great opportunities for cooperation.

Di Tianwu， top advisor of Asahi Beer:

As of 2006， we set up a green farm in Laiyang City of Shandong Province， where'ycow dung is fermented for maize and the corn stalk serves as cattle feed. This is a typical demo project featuring sustainable and recycling in the farming field.

Food security issue exists not only in China， but also in Japan and the entire world. No shortcuts but down-to-earth work may ensure food security， such as continuous staff education， fresh awareness and regular inspection supervision. Moreover， the operators have to perform their duties， which is the same both in Japan and China.