January 23rd, 2020

At the beginning of the new year, Xiao Wunan, Executive Vice Chairman of the Asia Pacific Exchange & Cooperation Foundation, and his party paid a friendship visit to Tokyo at the invitation of various Japanese institutions. They also held discussions with Japanese political, industrial and commercial, cultural and religious celebrities and reached a number of consensuses on further promoting and optimizing Sino-Japanese bilateral relations.

On the morning of January 20, Xiao Wunan was invited to the House of Councillors and had a meeting with Shimpei Matsushita, Director of Treasury and Finance Division of Liberal Democratic Party of Japan and a member of House of Councillors of Japan, they exchanged views on the future development of Northeast Asia, regional peace and stability, and the Sino-Japanese joint development of the third-party market based on China’s Belt & Road initiative.

Xiao Wunan has met with Shimpei Matsushita, a member of House of Councillors of Japan, for many times to come up with many ideas on how to further deepen Sino-japanese relations, and has implemented these ideas one by one in this meeting. It is believed that with the efforts of Shimpei Matsushita and a group of people with knowledge of China, Sino-Japanese relations will open up a new chapter.

At 1 p.m., Xiao Wunan, as a special guest, was invited to attend the opening ceremony of the 201st Ordinary Session of the Diet. Japan’s Emperor Naruhito was present for the first time, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Japan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Taro Aso and other hundreds of politicians attended this event.

After the ceremony, Xiao Wunan had cordial exchanges with major Janpanese political parties and Japanese friendly personages at the square of the National Diet Building. They all looked forward to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Japan this year and a new upsurge of Sino-Japanese relations.

After that, the House of Councillors of Japan arranged Xiao Wunan to visit CUI RU ZHUO YoKo Art Museum, a famous art institution spreading Chinese culture in Tokyo, and watch the calligraphy and painting works of Zeng Laide, a famous Chinese painter. They believed that the exchanges between China and Japan in painting and calligraphy, especially in contemporary ink painting, would play a special role in deepening Sino-Japanese relations.

The Asia Pacific Exchange & Cooperation Foundation has long been committed to the development of Sino-Japanese friendly relations and achieved fruitful results. For example, during World Expo in Japan in 2003, APECF held a bilateral friendly dialogue between China and Japan; in 2005, APECF made important achievements in deepening the Buddhist golden link among China, Japan and South Korea, which was praised by all governments; in 2019, the film “Watchers” participated by APECF won the prize at the Tokyo Film Festival, which attracted wide attention. It is believed that at the beginning of 2020, with the help of bilateral high-level visits, APECF will play an important role in opening a new chapter in Sino-Japanese relations.

Executive Editor: Li Chuanjun