Asia-Pacific

Envoy to Beijing calls for trust between Japan, China at commemorative event

The Yomiuri Shimbun
Visitors look at Japanese products on display at an event to mark the 50th anniversary of Japan-China ties on Saturday in Beijing.

Jiji Press

17:43 JST, September 25, 2022

BEIJING (Jiji Press) — Japanese Ambassador to China Hideo Tarumi on Saturday stressed the importance of fostering mutual understanding and trust among Japanese and Chinese people to improve the relationship between the two Asian neighbors.

Tarumi expressed the view in an event at a shopping mall in Beijing to celebrate Thursday’s 50th anniversary of the normalization of bilateral diplomatic relations.

“Relationships between nations can be boiled down to relationships between people,” Tarumi said at the opening ceremony.

In addition to dialogue between the governments, fostering mutual understanding and trust between the Japanese and Chinese public is “the royal road to a breakthrough” in stalled moves to improve the two countries’ relationship, Tarumi said.

At the ceremony, Liu Jinsong, director-general of the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s Asian Affairs Department, expressed his wish that the two countries will use the 50th anniversary as a new starting point to further deepen and strengthen the foundation of bilateral friendship projects.

The ceremony was also attended by former Chinese Ambassador to Japan Cheng Yonghua.

The two-day event through Sunday is aimed at having citizens with no special interests in Japan get to know about the country through food and music.

Visitors can enjoy original dishes combining Japanese and Chinese cuisines and live streaming of piano duets played remotely by Japanese and Chinese pianists.

The event is jointly hosted by an executive committee, including officials from the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China and the Japanese Embassy in China, and the China Public Diplomacy Association, a Chinese nonprofit organization.

About 100 Japanese companies running business in China sponsored the event.

Chinese authorities’ approval to announce the holding of the event was not given until this month.

Visitors are required to take strict measures to prevent infections of the novel coronavirus.