During Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's three-day China visit concluded on Saturday, the two countries reached a series of consensus on politics, economy, security and cultural exchanges. Experts in Japan said that the results of the visit mark a new phase of coordination and cooperation in bilateral relations.
PRACTICAL COOPERATION
During Abe's visit, the two sides have signed over 10 inter-governmental cooperation documents involving areas such as politics, innovation, finance, customs and sports.
Experts acclaimed these agreements on pragmatic cooperation, saying that such cooperation serves as "ballast" and a "thruster" for the development of China-Japan relations.
Takashi Suzuki, associate professor at Aichi Prefectural University, said that Japanese enterprises will play a more active role in China's reform and opening-up.
Japanese enterprises could provide technology and experiences in the areas such as transportation, environmental protection, elderly care, and medical care in cooperation with Chinese enterprises and meanwhile meanwhile achieve revenue from such cooperation, he said.
Akio Takahara, professor at the University of Tokyo, said that Chinese market is very attractive to Japanese enterprises, and "it's only natural" that China and Japan would cooperate in fields.
At a forum on third-party market cooperation held Friday in Beijing, 50 plus cooperation agreements worth more than 18 billion U.S. dollars were signed by the two sides.
Jin Jianmin, a senior fellow at Fujitsu Research Institute in Tokyo, said that the agreements on third-country market cooperation between the two sides in a wide range of areas sent a positive signal to the world and showed support for China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative.
Masahiro Kohara, former diplomat and professor at the University of Tokyo, said that Asia has a huge need for infrastructure, and Japan-China cooperation to meet such needs would help promoting regional stability and prosperity.
Suzuki said that both countries could benefit from creating a new mode of cooperation to promote the development of third nations, which will also contribute to regional stability and prosperity.
FREE TRADE
During Abe's visit, China and Japan have agreed to uphold free trade and oppose protectionism, to accelerate negotiations on a free trade zone among China, Japan and the Republic of Korea, and safeguard the regional economic integration process in the Asia-Pacific region.
Goro Takahashi, professor at Aichi University, said that promoting free trade is in the interests of both countries as well as the region, and that the two sides should uphold the free trade system by cooperating with other countries in the region and set a good example for the world.
Kohara said that as it's significant that China and Japan, the world's second and third largest economies respectively, work together to safeguard the global free trade system to contribute to world stability and sustainable development.
Jun Konno, associate professor at Gakushuin Women's College, said that against the backdrop of rising anti-globalization and unilateralism, it's significant for China and Japan to jointly explore third-party markets and promote multilateral economic cooperation and globalization through concrete actions.
NEW PHASE OF DEVELOPMENT
During his visit, Abe said he was glad to pay an official visit to China on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the signing of the China-Japan Treaty of Peace and Friendship, and that he hopes the two sides will open up a new era of bilateral ties featuring a shift "from competition to coordination."
Kohara said that steady development of bilateral ties is in the interests of both countries as well as the region.
"Japan and China building new relations featuring a shift from competition to collaboration would help promote mutual understanding and trust, and this kind of new relations is needed by both countries and conforms with the common aspiration of Asia," he said.
In the past four decades since China and Japan signed the Treaty of Peace and Friendship, the bilateral relations have undergone various frictions and problems, said Suzuki.
What's been achieved by the two sides during Abe's visit showed that the bilateral relationship has entered a new phase, in which both sides will work together to make new contribution to regional and even global peace and stability, said Suzuki.
