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CAFIU’s Recent Exchanges with Japan


Wang Lin Since the end of last year, CAFIU has kept a strong momentum in its exchanges with Japan. The highlights included the visit of a delegation of young members of Japan’s Diet, and the exchanges with multiple Japanese NGOs, media outlets and young students. The visit of young Japanese politicians helped strengthen mutual trust, reduce suspicion and build friendship. From December 5 to 9, 2015, a 5-member delegation of young members of Japan’s Diet headed by Taira Massaki, a LDP member of House of Representatives, visited Beijing. The delegation was met by Li Yuanchao, Member of Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Chinese Vice-President. Li expressed his appreciation for these young LDP politicians’ efforts to make the visit so as to better understand China and work towards improved ties between the two nations, as they can shape the future of the bilateral relations. The Japanese side recognized the importance of the in-depth exchanges with China and said they stand ready to play their roles constructively to create more opportunities for a greater number of young Japanese to set foot on China. They said that both sides should put an end to the difficulties in bilateral relations in the past three years, start from now and be rational in taking visionary actions to strive for the better prospects of Japan-China relations. The delegation told us that the visit was a real eye-opener. Thanks to their Chinese hosts’ unexpected frankness and thorough elucidation of its policies, they not only gained some insights into the country’s astonishing economic development, but also came to realize the huge progress in China’s soft power development, especially the experience in state governance. Their one-sided and superficial views of China were completely shattered by the visit. CAFIU has been reaching out to Japanese from all walks of life and holding in-depth discussions to enhance the public support for amity between the two nations. Leaders of the CAFIU Secretariat met with many Japanese NGOs, media outlets and students in Beijing and held discussions with multiple Japanese delegations which called on us. Secretary-General Ni Jian met with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) China Office Chief Representative, Director of Green Earth Network, Chief Director of Japan NGO “The World”, President of Japan-China Association for Youth Exchanges, China General Bureau Chief of the Mainichi Shimbun, Chief of NIKKEI China Headquarters and Japanese students from Soka University studying in Beijing. He also attended the New Year Reception of Urasenke Chado. Deputy Secretary-General Liu Kaiyang met with a delegation from Japan & China Workers Exchange Society and Director of Japan Council of Local Authorities for International Relations (CLAIR), Beijing. When meeting with the Japanese NGOs, CAFIU discussed with them over strengthening people-to-people exchanges between the two nations and carrying out exchange programs in 2016. The Japanese NGOs expressed their readiness to help enhance mutual understanding and friendship between our two nations by strengthening the exchanges with CAFIU through mutual visits and friendly discussions. The leaders of relevant Japanese NGOs gave positive responses and promised full support when CAFIU informed them of the plan to hold an essay contest in Japan from this April to August. When discussing with Japanese students from Soka University studying in Beijing, Secretary-General Ni Jian encouraged them to work hard in Mandarin-learning and be actively involved in building friendship between the two peoples. He called on them to make their contributions to the friendship by enhancing understanding, building trust and nurturing amity in their exchanges and cooperation with their Chinese counterparts.