China Japan Photo: IC

China and Japan could collaborate with each other, bringing mutual benefits and achieving common progress despite differences between the two countries, Masakazu Tokura, chairman of the Japan Business Federation and the top advisor of a Japanese business delegation which is on a visit to China, told the Global Times, noting that the Japanese side is now making joint efforts with the Chinese side in this direction. 

The Japanese business delegation is made up of 200 Japanese company representatives. It has been making a visit to China from Tuesday to Friday, the first of its kind in four years. It also marked the 46th time that a Japanese business delegation visited China since 1975.

On Friday, China's Minister of Industry and Information Technology Jin Zhuanglong met with the delegation, during which he pointed out that industries in both countries are highly integrated and complementary. Jin said that strengthening bilateral industrial chain cooperation is not only in line with market rules but also the real needs of the respective industries.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang also met with the business delegation on Thursday in Beijing. During the meeting, Li expressed the hope that the Japanese business community will play a positive role in facilitating win-win bilateral cooperation.

With regards to the result of the visit, Kosei Shindo, head of the Japan-China Economic Association, who led the delegation, said during a press conference on Thursday night that through direct dialogue, the Chinese and Japanese sides have affirmed their position, therefore "providing an opportunity for both sides to return to the original aspiration and think about bilateral economic exchanges."

He told the Global Times that the reaffirmed position of "comprehensively advancing the strategic and mutually beneficial relations" between China and Japan was mentioned several times during the visit. He added that the visit creates valuable opportunities for direct dialogue between Japanese and Chinese business communities, which is conducive to bringing bilateral relations forward. 

Leaders of the two countries reaffirmed the position of comprehensively advancing the strategic and mutually beneficial relations between China and Japan during a meeting in San Francisco in November.

"It is a great position that is conducive to building constructive and stable bilateral relations. The Chinese side also mentioned the phrase 'largely identical but with minor differences' during the exchange," Tokura said, while listing a number of areas in which the East Asian economies could work together, such as sharing solutions to aging populations and low birth-rates as well as cooperating further in green transformation. 

Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman Ken Kobayashi also stressed that China and Japan can cooperate with each other despite differences in their national systems and conditions. 

"It is the use of Chinese characters in both Japan and China that made the two countries jointly propose the 'strategic and mutually beneficial relations,' which is difficult to convey in English. And it is hoped that the business communities in both countries can conduct cooperation based upon this position," said Kobayashi. 

Shindo said China and Japan could work together in tackling global challenges such as climate change, and conduct wide-ranging cooperation in medical, nursing, and emerging industries. 

"The two countries could facilitate regional communication in various aspects under the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, and make contributions to the stability of Asia and the world," said Shindo. 

China and Japan are Asian neighbors and the second- and third-largest economies in the world respectively. China is also Japan's largest trading partner and one of the top investment destinations for Japanese companies.