The 12th Beijing-Tokyo Forum, jointly organized by China International Publishing Group (CIPG) and the Genron NPO of Japan, concluded in Tokyo on Sept. 28. Up to 500 delegates representing political, business, academic, and media sectors from both China and Japan attended the closing ceremony.

Maj Gen. Yao Yunzhu, former director of the Research Center of China-America Defense Relations at Academy of Military Science of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), Fu Chengyu, former chairman of Sinopec, Yoriko Kawaguchi, former Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Takeshi Noda, president of the Japan-China Society (JCS), delivered the keynote speeches at the closing ceremony.

Yao said during her speech that security is the most difficult aspect of Chinese-Japanese relations, but she was deeply impressed by the sincere and reasonable dialogues and the serious and active discussions between delegates from both countries. She said that improvement in Chinese-Japanese security relations must begin with crisis management and that an effective communication mechanism should be established to prevent misjudgments. Second, defense departments from both countries should try to expand cooperation so as to provide public products for the region and beyond. Third, the two sides should prevent new security problems. Yao said she believed that, as China and Japan have been neighbors for thousands of years, no difficulty is unsolvable.

Representing China's corporate sector, Fu said that China will be a vital driving force to the rapid changes occurring throughout the world in the future. Facing a rising China, the best strategy is not to delay its rise, but to try and move along with China's development.

He said that, as the world's third largest economy, Japan has a great opportunity to share China's achievements earned through reforms, noting that industrial manufacturing, financial services, energy saving and environmental protection are where the corporate sectors from both countries have enormous room for cooperation. Fu said that he not only hopes to see more Japanese products enter the Chinese market, but that he is also willing to help Japanese enterprises conduct cooperation with their Chinese counterparts.

Yoriko Kawaguchi used the examples of cultural diversity in China and Buddhism's influence in Asia to illustrate her ideas on how to unite different Asian countries. She said that China and Japan are both major economies in Asia and their ability to jointly contribute to the peaceful development of Asia and beyond depends on the cooperation mode and framework for tolerance between Japan and China.

Takeshi Noda reviewed the history of the Chinese-Japanese relations. He said that China and Japan enjoy cultural proximity and that humbleness is a virtue recognized in both countries. He hoped that Japan and China would respect each other in achieving mutual interests and win-win results.

At the closing ceremony, delegates representing the five panel discussions reported to the conference about their discussion and the achievements made.

Zhang Yansheng, secretary-general of the academic committee of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), who represented the panel discussion on economy, said in his report that delegates from both countries had active discussions on cooperation in high-speed rail development, chemical, low-carbon and energy conservation and emerging internet-based electronic commerce, which the panelists showed keen interest in.

In addition, delegates from that panel discussion urged for faster mutual benefits in the China-Japan-ROK free trade zone.

Wu Jinan, chief of the Shanghai Association for Japanese Studies, said to the conference representing the panel on politics and diplomacy that Chinese and Japanese delegates assumed reasonable and practical attitude and had heated discussions on how to improve the current Chinese-Japanese relations. He said that delegates from both sides agreed that the current order of Asia and the world is undergoing transformation and that the development of the Chinese-Japanese relations are facing the test of history. China and Japan both pay attention to each other's development paths, but a gap still exists in recognition. In the era of the internet, both countries should pay special attention to the waves of nationalism on the internet and subsequent damage to the Chinese-Japanese relations.

Ichiro Fujisaki, the former Japanese ambassador to the United States, added that when exploring current Japanese-Chinese relations, one should not forget the four political documents based on which the bilateral political relation is built.

Summarizing the panel discussion on security, Yuji Miyamoto, who is the former Japanese ambassador to China, said that delegates from both countries agreed that the tension on the Korean Peninsula affects the common interests of Japan and China. To prevent misjudgment, both governments should set up the maritime and air liaison mechanisms as soon as possible. Through communication and exchanges, Japan and China should form a new framework of security in northeast Asia.

Zhu Feng, director of the Institute of International Studies at Nanjing University, said that he was impressed by the frank communication between delegates from both countries in listening to each others' voices.

Liu Jiangyong, vice director of the Institute of Modern International Relations at Tsinghua University, summarized the discussion of the special panel by saying that his panelists eyed improving the current situation in both nations by encouraging people-to-people exchanges. He praised the panel delegates for their vision and practical attitude in promoting this improvement. He said that the discussions featured "both attitude and warmth."

Wang Zhongyi, editor-in-chief of the People's China magazine, and Seiichi Kondo, former chief of Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs, reported the discussion results of the panel for media. Wang said that media from both countries should take the responsibility of guiding and improving public opinions to facilitate the public in both nations to make reasonable judgements on improving the Chinese-Japanese relations. It will require not only the joint efforts of media from both countries, but also insights from various perspectives. He hoped that media from two countries would respect each other, enlighten each other, seek mutual benefits and help each other, so that both could make progress in a race during which gaps will be patched up through mutual learning.

At the forum, people with great wisdom contributed their insights on how to improve current Chinese-Japanese relations and how China and Japan can promote regional and world stability through cooperation. The insights were condensed into the Tokyo Consensus issued at the closing ceremony of the forum.

At the end of the closing ceremony, Zhou Mingwei, president of the CIPG and Yasushi Kudo, president of Genro NPO, representing the Chinese and Japanese organizers of the Beijing-Tokyo Forum, showed their gratitude to delegates from both countries, to the diplomatic agencies that provided guidance to the forum and to the forum volunteers.

In his speech, Zhou said that delegates at the forum were concerned more about the "what and why" of the Chinese-Japanese relations, but also about the "how." Opinions from both sides centered on how to solve problems, which was a direction worthy of approval. He said that the future objective for the Beijing-Tokyo Forum is to provide a platform for creative ideas that will allow Chinese-Japanese relations to overcome difficulties and develop steadily, also noting an important mission for the next year's forum will be how to commemorate the 45th anniversary of the normalization of the Chinese-Japanese relations. "We hope people with great wisdom from both countries to work together so as to make a better forum next year," said Zhou.

The 12th Beijing-Tokyo Forum officially concluded with Zhou saying: " See you in Beijing.”

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