The reception for welcoming the Tokyo Japan-China Friendship Parliamentarians delegation was held in the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries ( CPAFFC) on December 19th. CPAFFC Vice President Song Jingwu attended and delivered a speech. More than 50 people including Mr. Gao Shuangjin，Vice President of Beijing People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (BPAFFC), and leaders from foreign affairs offices of other related regions in Beijing, attended the meeting.
CPAFFC Vice President Song Jingwu said, the exchange of local governments and friendly cities is an important component of the Sino-Japan relations. The both sides have been taking the friendly cities as a platform to develop colorful exchange activities and cooperation for a long time. It plays an important role in promoting the economic and social development of the two countries and deepening the friendship of the two countries. The current Sino-Japan relation is improved, but it is still sensitive and complicated. The bilateral ties are in a crucial period of sailing against the current: either you keep going ahead or you keep falling behind. As capitals and international metropolises, Beijing and Tokyo have a broad space to cooperate in fields of Olympic Games, urban construction, environmental protection, economy, trade, resident and youth. Next year will mark the 45th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic ties between China and Japan. The China-Japan relations are facing important challenges to be further improved. He hoped that the both sides could take these opportunities to develop friendly exchanges and pragmatic cooperation of the two countries and make contributions to improve the bilateral relations in the local and the people-to-people sectors.
Tokyo Japan-China Friendship Parliamentarians’ union President Tomotoshi Haruhisa said in his speech that it is the first time for Tokyo to dispatch all-party parliamentarians delegation to visit China. Through paying an official call upon the relevant Chinese organizations, especially after holding the wonderful exchange meeting, the delegation felt a kind of sincere willingness that the two cities were eager to keep close contact and deepen cooperation. The Japanese side is willing to coordinate with the Chinese side to jointly develop relevant activities to commemorate the 45th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic ties of the two countries，further unite personages with the friendly consensus on China from all walks of life in Tokyo as well as cultivate the successors for the cause of Sino-Japanese friendship.
Before the reception, CPAFFC, BPAFFC and leaders from foreign affairs offices of other related regions in Beijing held an exchange meeting with the delegation. The both sides respectively introduced their own relevant experience achieved in the cause of developing the friendly exchanges between the cities and districts in Beijing and in Tokyo. The representatives expressed that the two countries should take the 45th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic ties of the two countries as an opportunity to deepen the friendly exchange cooperation so as to make efforts on improving the bilateral relations.
During in Beijing, the delegation also visited Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, All-China Youth Federation and other institutions as well as Olympic Games’ facilities. The delegation was at the invitation of CPAFFC to visit China.
