Li: Expand trade ties with Japan

Premier Li Qiang (center) interacts with Yohei Kono, president of the Japanese Association for the Promotion of International Trade, during their meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Tuesday. (WANG ZHUANGFEI/CHINA DAILY)

Premier Li Qiang called on Tuesday for China and Japan to expand the scale of their trade and investment to achieve a higher level of mutually beneficial cooperation.

Li made the remarks during a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing with a business delegation led by Yohei Kono, president of the Japanese Association for the Promotion of International Trade.

Li recalled the meeting between President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in November in Lima, Peru, where both leaders agreed to comprehensively advance the strategic and mutually beneficial relationship between China and Japan, and work toward building a constructive and stable economic and trade relationship that meets the requirements of the new era.

Emphasizing the enduring nature of the China-Japan neighborly relationship, he expressed the nation's commitment to working with Japan to implement the political consensus of being cooperative partners rather than threats to each other.

Li called for proactive actions from both sides to achieve tangible cooperation outcomes and strengthen political mutual trust, and build a solid foundation for people-to-people ties.

He expressed the hope that both countries would work together to manage their differences in a constructive way and promote the healthy and stable development of bilateral relations.

The premier pointed out that profound and complex changes in the international landscape have resulted in significant challenges for countries around the world with regard to economic development.

He underscored the unique advantages of deepening cooperation between China and Japan, particularly in their strong industrial complementarity and expertise in technological innovation, and called on both countries to leverage these strengths to enhance industrial integration, and explore partnership in emerging sectors such as the digital economy, the green economy and biopharmaceuticals, as well as in third-party market cooperation.

Li reaffirmed China's commitment to expanding high-standard opening-up, saying that more foreign enterprises, including those from Japan, are welcome to develop their businesses in China.

He also extended a warm welcome to various sectors in Japan to enhance exchanges with China in fields such as culture, tourism, sports, youth and environmental protection.

The meeting came after the two countries reached a 20-point key consensus in March during the sixth China-Japan High-Level Economic Dialogue in Tokyo, with both sides pledging to deepen economic cooperation.

Kono acknowledged China as Japan's most important economic and trade partner, saying that the Chinese economy enjoys robust internal dynamism and resilience.

He stressed the need for enhanced communication and coordination between Japan and China in safeguarding multilateralism and the free trade system amid uncertainties in the current international landscape.

Since the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan in 1972, bilateral trade has increased more than 300-fold and has remained at a high level of $300 billion for 15 consecutive years, with accumulated bilateral investment reaching nearly $140 billion, according to the Foreign Ministry.