As two major neibourgers, Japan and China have no other option but to developing friendly and cooperative bilateral relations on the basis of better mutual understanding and confidence building between the people of the two countries. That relationship is important not only for the two countries, but also for the stability and development of Asia and the world as a whole.
In an exclusive interview with People's Daily Online during Japanese Prime Minister Fukuda's visit to China, Mr. Mitsuo Sakaba, press secretary of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, made those comments in Beijing.
At the briefing on Dec. 29, Mr. Sakaba said Japan was "quite satisfied" and Mr. Fukuda himself was "very happy"with the meetings with top Chinese leaders including President Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao and top legislator Wu Bangguo. He described the talks as "fruitful".
Good personal relations between leaders and promoting confidence between the peoples
Mr. Sakaba recognized that, due to the very unfortunate period of time caused by the Japanese military government during the World War II, it would take a long time for people to build on confidence.
According to Sakaba, the most important consensus between the top leaders is the importance of the bilateral relations, which is not only for the benefit of the peoples of the two countries, but also for the region and the world.
During the visit of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to China in Oct. 2006, which was his first trip abroad since he took office, China and Japan decided to establish a strategic relationship of mutual benefit. Since then the two sides have been working to make "more substantial programs of cooperation", said Mr. Sakaba. He is "fully convinced"that the two countries share the same understanding and vision for the strategic and mutually beneficial partnership.
Mr. Sakaba cited two things that had "never happened"before between the two countries. Firstly, A high-level economic dialogue was held in early Dec. 2007, which covered all economic issues and participated by six Japanese ministers and seven Chinese ministers. Secondly, Prime Minister Fukuda had a baseball play with his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao. "The baseball play is a small thing, but it is a big thing to show the people of the two countries the level of the friendship between the top leaders," said Mr. Sakaba.
He stressed that the successful visit has proven that Mr. Fukuda could establish "a very good personal relations" with the top Chinese leaders. And President Hu Jintao's planned visit to Japan in the "cherry blossom season"will be another "stepping stone" to consolidate the most important consensus and the personal relations of the top leaders.
And what political leaders are doing and discussing has big impact on people. Mr. Sakaba is very glad that the top leaders' messages have been delivered directly to people of the two countries by the media. Mr. Fukuda's speech at Peking University was live broadcast by China's national TV station CCTV and his joint press conference with Primer Wen Jiabao was live broadcast in Japan by NHK. The visit has also been made headline in all Chinese and Japanese media.
A large official youth exchange program between China and Japan - actually the largest ever since - will be implemented in 2008. Mr. Sakaba released that 3,000 Chinese young people would be invited to visit Japan and 1,000 young Japanese would be invited by the Chinese government to visit China. By seeing the other country and talking to people of the other country, the younger generation will have their hand-on experience to create better mutual understanding and avoid any "prefixed perception of the other country", said Mr. Sakaba.
Another thing will make the year 2008 special for the China-Japan relations. The top leaders of the two countries have also agreed to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Sino-Japanese Treaty of Peace and Friendship, signed in 1978 when Takeo Fukuda, Mr. Yasuo Fukuda's father was Primer Minister and Deng Xioping was vice premier of China.
Mr. Fukuda's visit to the Confucius Temple in Shandong was regarded as a demonstration of the common cultural values shared by Japan and China. Mr. Sakaba also highlighted the importance of a better understanding of the history and the real situation of country of each other.
Co-op on climate change
Mr. Sakaba said there was much discussion about the issue of cooperation on fight against climate change which was a global issue. The top leaders of China and Japan exchanged their views on the international negotiations about the new arrangement of reduction of greenhouse gas emission when the Kyoto Protocol ended, as well as China-Japan cooperative programs on the energy saving and environmental protection.
Prime Minister Fukuda proposed to Premier Wen Jiabao that Japan establish 10 centers of energy saving and environmental cooperation in China. The centers will serve to facilitate the transfer of technologies on the business basis from Japanese companies to Chinese ones. He added that the Japanese ODA programs would continue the support to inter-governmental projects of transfer of technologies --- mainly management technologies. Japan and China signed in Dec. 2007 the last Yen soft loan agreement --- the major part of the ODA program.
Mr. Sakaba said Japan would "welcome" introduction of environmental technologies from other countries like EU and US. "It is not a question of competition, it is a question of cooperation with China", said Mr. Sakaba.
China and Japan have reached two cooperation agreements on the climate change technologies and energy and environment during Mr. Fukuda's visit in Beijing.
By People's Daily Online
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