President Jiang Meets Chinese, Japanese Friendship Envoys

Chinese President Meets Chinese, Japanese Friendship Envoys

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Chinese President Jiang Zemin Tuesday met with representatives from 17 Chinese and Japanese organizations, which jointly issued a declaration this morning on promoting unofficial Sino-Japanese friendship in the new century.

Jiang extended a warm welcome to representatives from 7 Japanese organizations and congratulated them on the issuing of the declaration, a result of joint discussion on unofficial relations at the beginning of the new century.

Unofficial relations have always been a part of the China-Japan friendship and unofficial organizations and personnel have made great contributions to the normalization of relations, the signing of the China-Japan Peace and Friendship Treaty, and the promotion of bilateral ties, Jiang said.

Looking into the new century, bilateral relations have entered a new stage, and the unofficial friendship should therefore also pick up progress, said the president, expressing the hope that the representatives will strive for this end.

He pointed out that China and Japan are both important countries in the Asia-Pacific region, and both bear the task of safeguarding peace and promoting development. Both sides should continue to deepen mutual understanding and trust in accordance with the three political documents so as to contribute more to peace and development in the region and the world.

He expressed the hope that unofficial organizations and personnel will carry on the friendship and encourage exchanges between the younger generations of both countries in a bid to further consolidate the friendship in the new century.

Hayashi Yoshiro, president of the Japanese Dietmen's League for Japan-China Friendship, expressed thanks to Jiang for his meeting with the Japanese representatives on behalf of all of them.

He said President Jiang emphasized the importance of an unofficial friendship during his visit to Japan in 1998 and at the 5000-member cultural and tourist exchange meeting in Beijing last May. Today's declaration was issued in line with the spirit of President Jiang's speeches delivered on the two occasions.

Japan and China are close neighbors and both countries should tighten communication and deepen mutual understanding, he said, adding that Japanese friendship organizations will make greater efforts to promote friendship in the new century.

In today's declaration, all the 17 organizations vowed to inherit and develop the tradition of China-Japan friendship, encourage unofficial exchanges, and push bilateral ties to a new stage.