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On December 10, a welcome dinner for the “Japan-China Exchange and Discussion Mechanism/Great Wall of China Project” delegation was held at the Great Hall of the People in the Chinese capital Beijing. Acting Secretary General and Deputy Chair of the Mechanism Azuma Koshiishi gave a speech on behalf of the visiting delegation.
The participants at the dinner, who included DPJ Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa were entertained by period drama and traditional music performed by Chinese young people.
Koshiishi’s speech was in response to a welcome speech from the head of the Chinese Communist Youth League Lu Hao. He began by saying that “Our visit this time has a particular significance” considering that it took place in the wake of the DPJ’s victory in the general election held in August of this year, in which the party had made every effort to achieve a change of government in order to realize government “Putting People’s Lives First”. He expressed his sincere thanks to the Chinese side for the welcome they had shown to the 632 participants in the delegation, which included 143 Diet members, and said that this must be the first time in the history of Japan-China relationship that such a large gathering of politicians had visited China.
Koshiishi went on to say that the development of the Japan-China relationship ranked with the development of the Japan-US relationship as being extremely important for Japan. He explained that it was for that reason that Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa had from 1986 implemented the “Great Wall of China Project” to engage in bilateral grassroots exchanges, and that the DPJ had from 2007 established the “Japan-China Exchange and Discussion Mechanism” as a forum for party-to-party discussions with the Chinese Communist Party.
In addition, Koshiishi expressed the opinion that since the normalization of diplomatic relations between Japan and China in 1972, there had been a constant development in the bilateral relationship. He added that the current relationship between Japan and China was not simply a bilateral one, but had developed into a relationship that had a huge impact on the peace, stability and development of Asia and the entire world. He stated that “I am convinced that Japan and China can cooperate in an epoch-making partnership in this 21st century, whether that be politically, economically, in terms of culture or civilization or the environment” and went on “The responsibility for this lies with each and every one of us gathered here today.” He ended his speech by urging the participants to make every effort to this end, and expressing his best wishes for friendly relations between the people of both nations, and the peace and prosperity of Asia and the world.
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