The ninth Beijing-Tokyo Forum took place in Beijing on Oct 26 and 27. About 80 people of vision and insight from China and Japan frankly exchanged views on politics, economy, security, media, and the deteriorating attitude of the Chinese and Japanese people toward each other.
China and Japan should help each other and cooperate in a variety of fields to enhance mutual trust and improve strained bilateral ties.
Economic ties can play a leading role in reshaping strained China-Japan relations, according to Toshiro Muto, former deputy governor of the Bank of Japan.
Kazuo Ogura, advisor to the Japan International Exchange Foundation, called for Japan and China to join hands together to outline a blueprint for Asia at the Beijing-Tokyo Forum in Beijing.
The Beijing-Tokyo Forum in Tokyo in the summer of 2006 was where Shinzo Abe sent a positive signal to China before his first term as Japanese prime minister. Frequent visits to the Yasukuni Shrine by Abe's predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi, had chilled Sino-Japanese relations during Koizumi's tenure.
The security situation around the Diaoyu Islands is actually "not as serious" as the media make it out to be, veteran officers and defense-studies scholars from China and Japan said on Saturday in Beijing.
Chinese and Japanese media have urged both countries to be prudent and comprehensive when reporting bilateral issues to prevent misunderstandings.
Chinese economists on Saturday urged the Japanese government to improve political ties with China as a prerequisite for boosting economic cooperation.
Both nations can move forward to seek common ground and overcome differences, Beijing-Tokyo Forum participants say.
The dispute concerning the Diaoyu Islands is the major factor that worsened Chinese and Japanese people's feelings toward each other. How people look back at history also matters. Japan's foreign policy, which is designed to isolate China in Asia, also evoked negative feelings among Chinese people.
A slump in business cooperation amid freezing political relations between China and Japan after the Diaoyu Islands disputes has imposed a new challenge for the two countries.
China-Japan ties are at their worst situation in the past four decades, but the two countries cannot be against each other and must improve relations, a senior Japanese political figure said Saturday.