Mr. Wang Zhengwei, Vice Chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, met with our Lebanese friend Mr. Adnan Kassar, Chairman of the Fransabank Group, at the Great Hall of the People on 19th July. Vice Chairman Wang Zhengwei recalled his visit to Lebanon last May when he met Mr. Kassar for the first time. He congratulated Mr. Kassar on being conferred the “China Arab Friendship Outstanding Contribution Award” and having the opportunity of taking a photo with President Xi Jinping of China on that occasion. Vice Chairman Wang appreciated Mr. Kassar for his outstanding contribution for the development of China-Lebanon, as well as China-Arab friendship over the past decades, and hoped that the Lebanese side could actively participate in the “Belt and Road” construction, to further enhance China-Lebanon, as well as China Arab friendly cooperative relations. Mr. Kassar thanked Vice Chairman Wang Zhengwei for sparing time for this meeting out of his busy schedule. He and his brother Mr. Adel Kassar have been dedicating to the friendship-with-China cause throughout their life. From his first visit to China as a 23 year-old young man when first landed in China till now as an old man of over 80 years old, Mr. Kassar has always been devoting to the development of relations between China and the Arab countries, as well as the whole world. Being conferred the “China Arab Friendship Outstanding Contribution Award” and met by President Xi this January is the most important honor of his lifetime. He wished that cooperation in the fields of trade, finance, and culture could be ever strengthened between China and Lebanon. He also conveyed greetings from Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Saeb Salam to Vice Chairman Wang Zhengwei, and welcomed Wang to visit Lebanon again.  CPAFFC Vice President Lin Yi and Lebanon Charge D'Affaires Hatem Nasrallah were present at the meeting.  

Urban innovation Practices Exchange workshop was held in Beijing from July 18th to July 19th in Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries with the purpose of enlarging the eye scope of Chinese cities for international exchanges, increasing their knowledge to the rules and procedures of international organizations and awards, and promoting the best practices of urban innovation in the world. Mr. Song Jingwu, the vice-president of CPAFFC and Mr. Liu Baochun, the director general of Guangzhou foreign office attended the meeting and delivered a speech.  The Guangzhou Award is the first international award named after Chinese city.This biannual award solicits urban innovation practices of cities and local governments around globe. Its third session officially kicked off in November, 2015. To date, 389 applications  from 217 cities around the world are received. The third session of Guangzhou Award ceremony hosted by CPAFFC and Guangzhou Municipal government will be convened this December. 

Mr. Song Jingwu, Vice President of CPAFFC, met on July 17th in Beijing with Mr. Yukio Hatoyama, former Japanese Prime Minister who attended the fifth World Peace Forum in Beijing. Vice President Song Jingwu first conveyed CPAFFC President Li Xiaolin’s greetings to Mr. Yukio Hatoyama. Vice President Song said that Mr. Yukio Hatoyama is an old friend of China. He has always paid great attention to China and Japan relations whether when he was the Prime Minister, or was not in the post. Especially in recent years when the bilateral ties confronted with difficulties, Mr. Yukio Hatoyama always upholds justice and speaks out for the Sino-Japanese friendship and greatly promoted the exchanges and cooperation in various fields between the two countries with the spirit of peace and love. Vice President Song hoped that Mr. Yukio Hatoyama would continue concerning about and supporting the development of the bilateral relations and the friendly people-to-people exchanges of the two countries.  Mr. Yukio Hatoyama expressed his appreciation for it. He said that at present, there are still unstable factors in the world, the terrorist attacks threaten to the people’s security, the conflicts and struggles between the regions become more and more serious and dangerous. He hoped that the people should adhere to the spirit of peace and love to solve the problems by the mean of dialogue. He also felt appreciation for CPAFFC which has been engaging in promoting the friendly exchanges of the people-to-people with Japan under the leadership of President Li Xiaolin and is willing to work together with China to improve the bilateral ties in future.

  From July 15 to 16, 2016, CPAFFC Vice President Xie Yuan led a delegation to attend the 60th Annual Conference of Sister Cities International(SCI), and the commemorative activities. Totally 400 people from the U.S. and over 10 countries participated in the conference. The attendees had in-depth discussions on topics such as smart cities and international cooperation, sister cities and global security, economic benefits of sister city relationship, etc. The Chinese Embassy in the U.S. and the government of Washington D.C. co-hosted a reception marking the 60th anniversary of SCI during the conference. Vice President Xie Yuan, Minister Li Kexin of the Chinese Embassy, Assistant Secretary of State Evan Ryan, President Mary Kane of SCI, Mayor Muriel Bowser of Washington D.C. gave remarks at the opening ceremony or reception. Zhang Heqiang, director general of the Department of American & Oceanian Affairs, CPAFFC spoke at the concurrent session “The Etiquette of Diplomacy: A Discussion on International Protocol” as a panelist.  In his remarks, Xie Yuan thanked the U.S. State Department and SCI for their efforts in promoting China-US sub-national and sister city cooperation. He said that, as an important entity of global cooperation, city successfully linked the relations between nations and peoples after the World War II. Sister city movement has won great support from the Chinese national government. China-U.S. sub-national cooperation has been very active during recent years, with many sister cities carrying out productive cooperation in broad areas. The CPAFFC has worked with American organizations like SCI to implement several China-U.S. sub-national exchange mechanisms, among which the Third China-U.S. Sister Cities Conference is going to be held in Nanchang, Jiangxi this November, with the theme of healthy cities. All sectors from the two countries are welcome to join this conference.  Mary Kane said that as an oldest organization in the U.S. engaged in people-to-people exchanges, SCI has been dedicated to the exchange and cooperation between the U.S. and other countries in such areas as economy and trade, education, culture, environment, youth, as well as promoting understanding and peace through people-to-people activities. She announced that July 15 is “The day of SCI” across the U.S, and hoped conference attendees to deepen sister city exchanges in their respective countries and regions, with the U.S.  The U.S. Department of State, SCI and Washington D.C. government highly appraised the CPAFFC on its indispensable role in promoting U.S.-China sub-national and sister city exchanges. They hoped the two sides continue their efforts to make more achievements in this area, to benefit two peoples. CPAFFC group also held  meeting with leadership of SCI and reached consensus on working together to make the Third China-U.S. Sister Cities Conference a great success.   SCI was founded in 1956, on the initiative of then U.S. President Eisenhower, and is an important partner of CPAFFC in conducting China-U.S. sub-national cooperation. 

On July 13, the Second Exchange Meeting of Chinese-Japanese Entrepreneurs held in Beijing. The meeting is held by CPAFFC and Kansai Economic Federation. About 120 representatives of Chinese entrepreneurs from Beijing, Shanghai, Hebei, Jiangsu, Guangdong, delegation of Kansai Economic Federation, and representatives of Japanese entrepreneurs in Beijing attended the meeting. They fully exchanged their opinions on cooperation in environment protection and tourism.  Vice President Song Jingwu attended the meeting and made a speech. In the speech, Vice President Song said, Chinese-Japanese economies are highly complementary, and have great potential for development. If the political interference can be overcome, deep cooperation will benefit both countries’ and the world’s economic recovery. It is expected that entrepreneurs from two countries can speak their mind, seek common development, and enjoy the achievements together. It is also hoped that the entrepreneurs could work together for the two countries’ development in economy and relationship.   MATSUSHITA MASAYUKI said, the exchanges between China and Japan in various fields are inseparable. As the second and third largest economy in the world, both countries have great influence in Asia-Pacific. Although difficulty appears in the development of political relationship between the two countries, the entrepreneurs should have a long-term vision, and further their cooperation, to contribute to the economic development of two countries, as well as that of the whole Asia-pacific. At the invitation of CPAFFC, Kansai Economic Federation delegation paid a visit to China from July 12 to 15.After the visit in Beijing, the delegation will go for Shanghai for further communication.

On July 12, Vice President Mr Hu Sishe met with Mr Kurt Karst, former managing director of Villa Musica Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany. At the meeting, they exchanged in-depth views on Chinese traditional music ensemble’s visit to Germany this fall, and cooperations in the next two years. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of Villa Musica, and witnesses its friendship with the CPAFFC exceeding two decades. At the invitation of Villa Musica, the CPAFFC will send a group from Heilongjiang National Music Orchestra to tour in Germany this October, amid which Vice President Hu will pay a goodwill visit in celebration of the organisation’s 30th birthday. Mr Karst, who also serves as the president of Gesellschaft für Deutsch-Chinesische Freundschaft Mainz-Wiesbaden (Mainz-Wiesbaden German-Chinese Friendship Association), discussed with Mr Hu about the cooperative plans with the CPAFFC in the coming years. They agreed on facilitating mutual exchange visits by Chinese and German modern painters, the exhibition of their works, and the concerts hopefully to be staged in China by a German ensemble Mainzer Virtuosi. 

Mr. Tang Jiaxuan, President of China-Japan Friendship Association (CJFA) met in Beijing with KANSAI ECONOMIC FEDERATION (KEF) delegation led by Mr. MATSUSHITA MASAYUKI, Vice President of KEF and Vice President of Panasonic Corporation of China on July 12th. They had an in-depth discussion and exchanged their views on the topics of China- Japan relations, Chinese economic situation and China-Japan economy and trade cooperation. Mr. Song Jingwu, Vice President of CPAFFC, was present. President Tang extended his warm welcome to Mr. MATSUSHITA MASAYUKI for leading the delegation to visit China again. President Tang spoke highly of the KANSAI ECONOMIC FEDERATION for paying attention to the bilateral ties and having faith in promoting the economy and trade cooperation between the two countries as well as showing enthusiasm about it. President Tang hoped that the personages from Japanese economic sector should seize the important opportunity of the Chinese economy increasingly maintaining development at a medium to high speed, catch up the sound momentum of speeding up economic transformation and upgrading, of improving quality and get better structured the Chinese economy. We can commonly lead East Asian Regions cooperation and develop a win-win platform. Mr. MATSUSHITA MASAYUKI expressed that China and Japan are close neighbors linked by a narrow strip of water. As a close relationship with China, KANSAI ECONOMIC FEDERATION has always engaged in deepening the cooperation in the economic sector of the two countries. It is willing to make active efforts with China to expand the two countries’ economy and trade cooperation and improve the bilateral ties.

   On 11th July, Mr Song Jingwu, Vice President of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) met with Mrs. Ina Marciulionyte, the Ambassador of Lithuania. Vice President Song expressed his welcome to Mrs. Marciulionyte for her visiting, and reviewed the exchanges in recent years. Mrs. Marciulionyte pronounced the bilateral relations is not only the relationship between two countries’ government but also the people-to-people relationship.  The two sides also discussed about the issue of the Celebration of 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the Baltic Countries and China. Mrs. Rasa Bubliene, Economic and Commercial Counsellor of the Embassy of Lithuania, Mr. Lv Hongwei Deputy Director General of the Department of European Affairs of CPAFFC, attended the meeting. 

On July 11th ,2016, Vice President Hu Sishe met with Morishita Kozo, president of Japan Toei Animation Company and his delegation. They made in-depth discussion about more exchanges in animation industry between the two countries next year by taking the opportunity of the approaching 45th anniversary of the establishment of formal diplomatic relations between China and Japan. Toei Animation Company is the biggest one of its kind in Japan. Many famous animations were produced by this company, such as Saint Seiya, Dragon Balls, Flower Angel, One Piece which also enjoy great popularity in China. Animation masters like Tezuka Osamu, Miyazaki Hayao, Isao Takahata and so on all once worked for the company. Among all the animations introduced from Japan to China, The Dragon Boy, which was brought to screen in China 1979, was the first cartoon series imported to the Chinese mainland. Morishita Kozo, Japanese famous animation producer and director, has been in office as the president of Japan Toei Animation Company since 2014, and has great influence in the industry across Japan and even China. 

Vice President of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) Xie Yuan met with President Anthony Capron and Vice President Gena Gibbs of Bahamas-China Friendship Association (BCFA) in CPAFFC on July 8th who attended 2016 Friendship Forum for the American and Oceanian Region .  Vice President Xie Yuan recalled the visiting to Bahamas in March 2015 and hoped them to visit China and CPAFFC again. He also hoped that BCFA would further strengthen the cooperation with CPAFFC in the fields of culture, tourism and etc.. President Anthony Capron thanked CPAFFC for inviting them. He expressed that they would continue to promote the friendship between the two peoples as before.