Strengthening Cooperation in Fighting COVID-19 and Economic and Trade in the Post-Pandemic Era

On December 2, 2020, the sixth Japan-China CEO and Former Senior Officials’ Dialogue was held online. Representatives of the two sides conducted candid dialogues on the economic development of Japan and China, and prospects for Japan-China economic cooperation in the post-pandemic era, covering the impact of the pandemic on the Chinese, Japanese and the world economy, business activities, digital transformation, trade and investment, sustainable development and so forth. Zeng Peiyan, Chairman of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, Yasuo Fukuda, former Prime Minister of Japan, and more than 30 Chinese and Japanese business leaders, former government officials, and well-known scholars attended the meeting.

The Chinese representatives said that the pandemic has become the biggest challenge facing mankind since the beginning of this year. It has seriously threatened human health, safety and well-being, as well as economic and social development. Currently, the pandemic is still spreading around the world, and countries should work together to fight it. The Chinese government has adopted a proactive fiscal policy such as tax cuts and fee reductions, the issuance of anti-pandemic treasury bonds, and a flexible monetary policy to protect employment, people’s livelihood, market players, food and energy security, industrial chain and so on. The Japanese government has invested trillions of yen in the fight against the pandemic and issued a temporary subsidy of 100,000 yen to each citizen. The Bank of Japan has further eased its monetary policy. During the anti-pandemic process, China and Japan helped each other and accumulated great experience for the global fight against the pandemic, and set a model for cooperation. In general, China and Japan took the lead in controlling the pandemic and resuming work and production, which has an important impetus to regional economic recovery.

Chinese representatives also believe that fighting the pandemic made China re-affirm its confidence in “doing its own thing”. The Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held at the end of October outlined a new blueprint for China’s development in the next five years and up to 2035. China’s economy has shifted to a stage of high-quality development, and will unswervingly implement the new development concept of innovation, coordination, greenness, openness, and sharing, and accelerate the construction of a new development pattern with the mutual promotion of domestic and international cycles. No one can stand alone in the face of major crises, unity and cooperation is the inevitable choice to deal with challenges. We must adhere to the concept of win-win cooperation, mutual trust and consultation, focus on post-pandemic development, and comprehensively improve the quality of Japan-China cooperation and development. Furthermore, we should focus on deepening regional economic integration in the post-pandemic era, speeding up cooperation in digital transformation, and solving common issues of aging and green development.

The Japanese representatives said that Japan and China have a good foundation for cooperation in fighting the pandemic. Both parties should uphold an objective, scientific and fair stand, strengthen information, policy communication and technical exchanges, and carry out cooperation in virus pathogenesis, pathogen detection, medicine and vaccine research and development. At the same time, we should actively establish special communication and cooperation channels between the health authorities and infectious disease prevention and control agencies of the two countries to jointly promote international cooperation in the fight against the pandemic.

A joint statement was issued by China Center for International Economic Exchanges and the Japan Business Federation after the meeting. Both sides agreed that the COVID-19 pandemic has threatened human health, safety and well-being, as well as the economic and social development of all countries. Thus, the international community should be united to strengthen confidence, cooperation and make concerted efforts to maintain global public health security. In the post-pandemic era, the two sides should actively improve the trade and investment environment, strengthen cooperation in industrial and supply chain, advance cooperation in the digital economy, deepen cooperation in medical health and green development, continue to promote trade and investment liberalization, facilitation, and improve rules and regulations. Apart from that, they should accelerate the implementation of the “Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP)”, and conclude the China-Japan-South Korea Free Trade as soon as possible to achieve a higher level of regional economic integration. The two sides spoke highly of the important role played by the regular high-level dialogues conducted in deepening China-Japan economic and trade relations and promoting communication and understanding.

The dialogue between Chinese and Japanese entrepreneurs and former senior officials is co-sponsored by the China Center for International Economic Exchanges and the Japan Business Federation. It is a “second-track” economic exchange mechanism and five rounds have been held in Tokyo and Beijing since the first was held in November 2015.