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May 23, 2015

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3,000-strong Japanese delegation in China

A JAPANESE delegation of 3,000 members arrived in Beijing yesterday; an event observers hope will improve mutual understanding and trust.

The delegation, led by Toshihiro Nikai, chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party’s general council, includes heads of local governments and major enterprises.

The mission is the largest between the two countries since the Japanese government’s “purchase” of the Diaoyu Islands in September 2012 chilled bilateral ties.

The last large visiting delegation was in 2002 when 13,000 Japanese tourists visited China to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the normalization of China-Japan diplomatic relations.

Referring to yesterday’s delegation, Zhou Yongsheng, a professor with the Institute of International Relations under the Foreign Affairs University, said: “It is a rather high-profile delegation. The event marks an important step forward in pushing the China-Japan relationship toward gradual improvement.”

Divided into 80 groups, the delegation will visit Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei and Liaoning provinces, among other places, to attend cultural, tourism and trade events.

It is the fifth time Nikai has organized a large cultural exchange tour to China and he said he hoped the people-to-people exchange will improve relations and foster further tourism interaction.

High point in relationship

Tourism between the two countries cooled following the island “purchase” and visits by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to the Yasukuni Shrine that, among others, honors war criminals.

Thanks to efforts by people like Nikai, tourism exchange has become a high point in the often bumpy relationship.

In 2013, Chinese tourists to Japan dropped 6.5 percent year on year to 1.83 million but last year, more than 2.4 million Chinese tourists visited.

The visiting delegation shows there are people in both countries hoping to improve bilateral relations, said Gao Hong, deputy head of the Institute of Japanese Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s meeting on the sidelines of an APEC meeting in Beijing last November, the two countries reached a four-point agreement to resume political, diplomatic and security dialogue while acknowledging different positions on the Diaoyu Islands.

Analysts expect relations to take off, should the two sides abide by the agreement and yesterday’s delegation is seen as the latest sign of progress.

It is hoped that more understanding could be fostered through personal exchanges as “the easiest way to reach a consensus,” said Gao.

Liu Jiangyong, vice chief of the Institute of Modern International Relations at Tsinghua University, said: “Tourism has become an important engine for bilateral cultural and trade exchanges in recent years.”

Currently, there are more than 1,000 flights a week between China and Japan.

China has proposed that both countries name 10 hot tourist destinations to establish a cooperation mechanism at local governmental level, said Li Jinzao, head of the China National Tourism Administration.

China and Japan should cooperate more pragmatically toward a goal of more convenient, more comfortable and safer tourism, Li said, reiterating proposals he made in April at a meeting of tourism ministers from China, Japan and South Korea.

He suggested a simplified visa procedure between China and Japan, working toward the ultimate waiver of visa issuance.




 

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