Beijing-Tokyo forum important 'first touch' for two govts

By Li Xiaokun (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-08-27 07:26

The first major meeting between Beijing and members of a new Japanese government, which will be elected on Sunday, is expected at a forum in November, organizers said Wednesday.

Senior Chinese and Japanese officials are set to take part in the forum jointly held by China Daily newspaper and Genron NPO, a Japanese think tank similar to the American Council on Foreign Relations, said Yasushi Kudo, head of Genron NPO.

"The Beijing-Tokyo Forum may be the first opportunity for interaction between the two governments, and the first diplomatic activity that the new Japanese government attaches importance to," Kudo told a press conference announcing the release of a joint survey on Sino-Japanese relations sponsored by China Daily and Genron NPO.

The survey is affiliated with the Beijing-Tokyo Forum, an annual meeting of political and NGO leaders from both countries initiated in 2006.

Gao Anming, secretary-general of the organizing committee of the forum and a member of China Daily's editorial board, announced at the press conference that the forum, one of most significant ones between the two nations, would be held in Dalian, Liaoning province.

More than 100 representatives from political, academic, business and media circles from both nations will attend the forum themed "Sino-Japanese Cooperation in the Global Economic Crisis". The meeting is of a higher level than the previous ones, he said.

One of the topics at the meeting this year, Gao said, will be how China and Japan, the two largest holders of US bonds, plan to ensure the safety of their money.

Japan's opposition Democratic Party (DPJ), highly likely to win the Aug 30 election and end the rule of the Liberal Democratic Party, which controlled Japan for most of the past 54 years, will focus on domestic affairs, including political reform and dispatching more than 100 of DPJ members to key government positions in the first two months of its administration if it wins, Kudo told China Daily at the press conference.

"But it also needs to unveil its foreign policy as early as possible and take diplomatic action no later than November. That coincides with the date of the Beijing-Tokyo Forum," Kudo said.

Many politicians in the Japanese organizing committee of the forum are involved in the election and some are expected to be part of the new government, he said.

"We hope the DPJ can grasp the opportunity and dispatch key members to attend the forum if it becomes the ruling party," he said.

"We, as well as China Daily, believe the power of sincere talks will change history."

As for the DPJ's China policy, Kudo said the party "attaches great importance to Asia and is considering a more explicit stance on issues of the Yasukuni shrine and Japanese war responsibility".

Zhou Yongsheng, an expert on Japanese studies with China Foreign Affairs University, said the forum is a golden opportunity for the "first touch" of the two governments.

"China can observe the neighbor's new foreign policy to help with making its own judgment, while Japan will have the first opportunity to show its diplomatic ideas to China."

Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, then chief cabinet secretary and a leading candidate for the position of the next Japanese prime minister, attended Beijing-Tokyo Forum in 2006.

Then Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda sent a letter of congratulation to last year's forum.