China, Japan should promote neighborly relations: Japanese trade leader

The political confrontation between China and Japan is of no good to the two countries and two peoples, Senior Executive Director of the Japanese Association for the Promotion of International Trade Yoshio Nakata said in Harbin, capital city of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province on June 15, noting that the two sides should strengthen their relations and carry out reciprocal cooperation.

Nakata made the remarks at a forum on Sino-Japanese economic cooperation at the 16th China Harbin Fair for Trade and Economic Cooperation.

He said although the two countries have made remarkable achievements in economic, trade and technical cooperation, there have emerged some problems in political and diplomatic affairs as well as national sentiment.

He stressed that Japan and China, regarding the overall situation of bilateral relations and the long-term interest of the two peoples should strengthen exchanges and dialogues between heads of government and people at various levels since the two countries shoulder the important responsibility for peace and development of Asia and the world as a whole.

"We have required and hope the Japanese government will take concrete actions based on sincerity to solve one by one the problems between the two countries, "said Nakata.

He said China-Japan trade will exert direct and great influence on Japan's economy and the booming of China's economy has provided various opportunities to the companies in Japan, including the steel and mining industries.

The trade volume between China and Japan, including Hong Kong, reached 168.77 billion US dollars in 2004, accounting for about twenty percent of Japan's overall trade volume, he said.

As for future cooperation, Nakata said besides the previous cooperation sectors, Japan will endeavor to promote bilateral cooperation in tertiary industry and prompt Japanese companies to join in the development of less-developed regions in China.

Source: Xinhua