Japanese firms seek resumption of direct flights without quarantines

Japanese business representatives on Wednesday called for resumption of direct flights between Chinese and Japanese cities with no quarantine to boost business, as more Japanese companies plan to expand in the Chinese market despite tension in bilateral ties.

Takashima Ryusuke, director- general for the Beijing Office of the Japan External Trade Organization ( JETRO), said that he was looking forward to the reopening of direct flights between Beijing and Japanese cities, since it is very inconvenient for Japanese businessmen to visit China currently.

“This is something that needs to be addressed urgently, and we hope that there will be direct flights and no 14- day quarantine,” Takashima said, noting that although businesses can communicate online, the efficiency is limited.

The comments were made at an event jointly held by the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China ( CJCCI) and the JETRO Beijing office on Wednesday.

“There has been no particular progress in terms of the opening of direct flights,” said Daisuke Mikogami, chairman of the CJCCI, on Wednesday.

However, in addition to the fact that Chinese- made vaccines are not currently approved in Japan – unlike South Korea – there are still many reported COVID- 19 cases in Japan, Xiang Haoyu, a research fellow at the China Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

“Under such circumstances, the hopes raised by the Japanese side do not conform to the actual situation, and they are not conducive to China’s basic domestic requirements for epidemic prevention and control, nor is it conducive to our safety,” said Xiang.

According to the white paper by the CJCCI, 90.4 percent of surveyed Japanese enterprises in China held a positive attitude on plans to further expand the scale of local procurement in the next one to three years.

This figure was the highest in the entire Asia- Pacific region, well above the regional average of 74.8 percent.