China-Japan ties deemed important
Survey findings released following Beijing-Tokyo Forum that marks 40 years of milestone treaty
Both Chinese and Japanese continue to view the two nations’ bilateral relations as important and hope the two governments enhance cooperation in the future so as to achieve common development, a survey released earlier this month showed.
Conducted by China International Publishing Group and Genron NPO, a Japanese think tank, the survey received responses from 1,548 Chinese citizens and 1,000 Japanese citizens.
Some 74 percent of the Chinese respondents said they believe that bilateral relations are “important” or “very important”, while 71.4 percent of the Japanese respondents held the same view.
Regarding a question designed to mark the 40th anniversary of the signing of the China-Japan Treaty of Peace and Friendship, the majority of both Chinese and Japanese respondents said that they support an article in the treaty that stipulates both sides should develop durable relations for peace and friendship on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence.
The five principles, which were proposed by the Chinese government in the 1950s, are mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual nonaggression, mutual noninterference in each other’s internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence
Some 70.4 percent of Chinese respondents and 63.4 percent of Japanese respondents said that they are in favor of the two sides enhancing cooperation in bilateral and regional affairs.
Meanwhile, 45.1 percent of Chinese respondents said bilateral ties are currently in a “very bad” or “bad” state, down 20 percent from last year, while 39 percent of Japanese respondents hold the same view, down 6 percent from 2017.
Territorial disputes, maritime resource conflicts and historical disagreements remain major obstacles.
With regards to improving ties, the most preferable solution among Chinese respondents was to solve long-standing disagreements over historical issues, while more Japanese respondents would prefer to boost trust between the two governments.
The survey is a project of the Beijing-Tokyo Forum.
Founded in 2005, the annual forum is a high-level event for diplomatic communications between China and Japan, aiming to provide a non-governmental exchange platform and improve Sino-Japanese ties through public opinion polls and dialogues.
This year’s forum was held in Tokyo from Oct 14 to 15, with experts, former officials and private sector representatives from China and Japan discussing key issues affecting bilateral relations.
This year’s event focused on the theme of “deepening mutual trust and cooperation, sharing responsibility for peace and development in Asia and the world, and exploring the practical significance of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between China and Japan”.
More than 100 guests from political, business, academic and media circles in the two countries held discussions on bilateral relations, political mutual trust, economic and trade cooperation, security assurances, media responsibility, innovation and other major issues.
Xu Lin, deputy head of the Communist Party of the China Central Committee’s Publicity Department and director of the State Council Information Office, said at the opening ceremony of the forum that this year not only marks the 40th anniversary of the signing of the ChinaJapan Treaty of Peace and Friendship but also the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening-up, adding that these two anniversaries provide a lot of inspiration for developing China-Japan ties.
Both sides should stick to peace, friendship and cooperation in developing bilateral ties, he said.
Yasuo Fukuda, former Japanese prime minister, said that the current geopolitical landscape, under which China, Japan and other Asian countries had achieved development, was now facing turbulence. In the interests of Asia and the wider world, China and Japan should work together to shoulder the responsibility of safeguarding and improving the current world order and economic globalization, he said.
The forum also adopted the Tokyo Consensus in which the two sides agreed to jointly safeguard regional peace, prosperity, stability and development, and enhance bilateral and multilateral trade and economic cooperation, as well as boost people-to-people exchanges to promote the continued improvement and development of bilateral ties.