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On March 24, following the 4th meeting of the Japan-China “Exchange and Discussion Mechanism”, DPJ Secretary General Azuma Koshiishi and Minister for the International Department of the Chinese Communist Party Wang Jiarui participated in a signing ceremony for a memorandum regarding exchange and cooperation between the DPJ and the Communist Party of China (CPC).
Through the meeting, both parties had looked back over the 40 years of shared history since the normalization of diplomatic relations between the two nations, reaffirming the fruits of the relationship and the significance of the Exchange and Discussion Mechanism, as well as agreeing on the need to work to deepen the mutually beneficial strategic relationship between Japan and China, dealing with the various outstanding issues while working to construct a mutually dependent relationship. Based on these perceptions, the memorandum was signed with the purpose of further deepening the relationship of exchanges and cooperation between the two parties, and stated that “Both parties, learning the lessons of our past history, and looking toward the future, agreed to actively promote events to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between Japan and China, and to work together in order to increase mutual trust politically, to further deepen the mutually beneficial strategic relationship, to improve national sentiment in both countries, and to make a combined effort for the long-term and healthy development of the bilateral relationship.”
The memorandum contains the following points: (1) The two parties will carry out the following in order to further deepen the mutually beneficial strategic relationship between Japan and China; to promote exchange activities between regions, corporations and private organizations in both countries, and to focus on promoting cooperation in the following areas: economy, energy conservation, environment, disaster protection, assistance for disaster recovery, including measures to deal with the damage caused by unfounded rumours, finance, high-technology, intellectual property, tourism, and cooperation between small and medium sized enterprises. In addition, the parties will promote concrete cooperation, such as the development of resources in the East China Sea, in order to make the East China Sea “a sea of peace, cooperation and friendship”; (2) In order to promote mutual trust politically, the two parties will each dispatch high-level delegations to engage in timely exchanges regarding international and regional issues and issues affecting both countries, build a close strategic mutual understanding, and promote the development of a “mutually beneficial strategic relationship”. They will expand exchanges of human resources and culture between Japan and China, and promote mutual understanding, as well as promoting exchanges of human resources and culture, private sector exchanges, and youth exchanges between both countries via party-to-party channels; (3) In order to improve national sentiment in both countries, the two parties will each establish a column pertaining to Japan-China relations in their respective websites or other media, undertake appropriate joint opinion polls, discover the current state of public sentiment in both countries and the respective problems at issue, and search for solutions to these. Regarding the strengthening of party-to-party exchanges, specific points included establishing an exchange program between young leadership of both parties, and establishing a hotline for communications between the two parties to realise mutual understanding both speedily and effectively, through telephone conversations and working level visits between the persons responsible for overseeing international affairs in both parties, these to take place when serious incidents or unexpected mishaps occur.
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