Feature: China's WTO Entry Revives Japanese Businesses in HK

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, April 22, 2002

Feature: China's WTO Entry Revives Japanese Businesses in HK

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In the wake of China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) last year, more people in Hong Kong have taken up the Japanese language again due to a revival of Japanese firms establishing offices in Hong Kong.

Chiu Tat Wing, chairman of the Japan Society of Hong Kong - the cultural promotion arm of the consulate - told Xinhua at a symposium entitled "Japan, Chinese mainland, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) and Taiwan: Japanese language teaching and teaching materials" jointly held by the Japanese Consulate in Hong Kong and the Japan Society of Hong Kong over the weekend.

Chiu revealed that the number of Hong Kong people applying for the four levels of Japan's official Japanese Proficiency Test has reached an unprecedented high of applicants of some 5,000 people in 2001, compared to just some 4,000 in 2000.

"Consultancy companies that we have come in touch with told us that in the wake of China's WTO entry, a new wave of Japanese firms, mainly the small- and medium- sized enterprises, have been setting up offices again in Hong Kong. So part of the bilateral business will still go through Hong Kong due to Hong Kong people's knowledge of mainland laws, or their business contacts there," he said.

The scenario is in line with what Japanese Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi said in his speech entitled "Asia in a New Century - Challenge and Opportunity" at the recent Boao Forum for Asia, when he called for stronger bilateral business ties.

Osawa Tsutomu, acting Japanese consulate-general in Hong Kong said he hopes the symposium will be able to stimulate further exchanges on the language teaching amongst areas within the Han sphere - the areas when Chinese characters are used or have influence over their languages.

"As this year also marks the 30 anniversary of the normalization of Sino-Japanese relations, so the Japan Society of Hong Kong will have many more programs to held centering on the 30th anniversary," he said.

Chiu Tat-wing added that the recent revival in the Japanese language learning would also have been due to local interest in Japanese internet computer games, Japanese TV soap operas and food.

At the moment, approximately 2,300 Japanese companies have offices in Hong Kong, and they employ more than 50,000 local employees, according to the consulate.

About 15,000 people in Hong Kong are currently learning Japanese, while the number of Hong Kong students studying at Japanese universities is also rising, Chiu said.

In 1997, the new Japanese International School opened in Tai Po, offering education not only to Japanese children, but to all nationalities in Hong Kong, the consulate said.

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