To strength the multifaceted cooperation between China and Japan in post Covid-19 Era - Eighth Round of China-Japan CEO and Former Senior Officials Dialogue Held Online

On November 28, 2022, the eighth round of China-Japan CEO and Former Senior Officials Dialogue was held online. The delegates from both sides made frank discussions and in-depth exchanges centered on the topics including “Application of Intelligent Technology and Policies to address Healthy Aging”, “To Strength the Cooperation between China and Japan in the area of Digital Transformation and Climate Financing: and “Integration of Asian-Pacific Economy and Stability of Industrial Chain and Supply Chain”. Zeng Peiyan, former prime minister of China, Yasuo Fukuda, former prime minister of Japan, and more than 40 representatives of Chinese and Japanese business leaders and former senior officials attended the meeting.

The Chinese delegates pointed out that the world today is marked by profound changes unseen in a century: the frequent outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic stands in the way of the global economic recovery; the uncertain regional security situation have a far-reaching impact on the international landscape and the aggressive interest rate hike and balance sheet contraction by the US Federal Reserve triggered the devaluation of many currencies and intensified the risk of debt default. The world economy's recovery has encountered systemic shocks in the midst of a complex situation featured with escalated crisis of global energy, food and climate change; disruption of supply chain cycles; weak demand due to persistent high inflation and sluggish trade and investment. All countries are facing numerous difficulties in their development, and there is an urgent need to work together to overcome the current challenges and resolve the crisis.

The Chinese delegates said that on the 17th of this month, President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida held their first formal meeting in Bangkok which reached broad consensus on maintaining high-level exchanges and dialogues, enhancing political mutual trust, promoting pragmatic cooperation, expanding people-to-people exchanges, strengthening coordination and cooperation on international and regional affairs, and building a stable and constructive China-Japan relationships that meets the requirements of new era with our joint efforts. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan. Both sides have identified numerous policy convergences in boosting the economy, promoting investment and trade, and improving people's livelihoods. There is vast potential for mutually beneficial cooperation in areas such as digital trade, semiconductor manufacturing, new energy vehicles, hydrogen and energy storage, energy conservation and environmental protection, bio-medicine, smart healthcare, and third-party markets. Both sides can jointly foster and develop new growth drivers to boost strong, green, and sustainable development of the economies of two countries and the world beyond.

The Japanese delegates expressed that as neighboring countries, Japan and China have made fruitful achievements and substantial progress in various fields since the normalization of diplomatic relations. Both sides have firmly adhered to the general direction of peace, friendship, and cooperation.In the future, both countries will continue to deepen multi-faceted cooperation in areas such as economy and trade, aiming to achieve mutual benefit, win-win outcomes, and the convergence of interests. The two sides will play respective important roles in combating the pandemic, promoting global economic recovery, and maintaining stability in the industrial and supply chains. Both countries should make full use of the platform of people-to-people exchanges to enhance mutual understanding and friendships between the two peoples, implement the consensus and contribute to greater development of bilateral relations in the next 50 years.

At the end of the dialogue, the China Center for International Economic Exchanges and the Japan Business Federation issued a joint statement called for following the trend of the times, expanding mutually beneficial cooperation, jointly building a China-Japan relationship that meets the requirements of the new era and promoting the regional and global peace, stability, and prosperity. Both sides believe that there is a need to strengthen the coordinated digital transformation (DX) and green transformation (GX), advance the reform of the World Trade Organization (WTO), deepen bilateral, regional and multilateral practical cooperation under the framework of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), promote deeper integration of industrial and supply chains, and jointly foster an open and mutually beneficial international environment, which will add new impetus to the economic development of both countries, the region, and the world as a whole.