The Fourth Round of Dialogue between Entrepreneurs and Former Senior Officials of China and Japan was held in Beijing from October 11 to 12. Zeng Peiyan, former vice premier of the State Council and Yasuo Fukuda, former Japanese prime minister, led more than 30 delegates including business leaders, former senior government officials and academics in the talks.

The delegates talked about the China-Japan economic situation, covering issues such as deepening collaboration, promoting globalization and innovation, and working toward coordinated economic and social development.

This year is the 40th anniversary of both the China-Japan Treaty of Peace and Friendship and of the beginning of China’s reform and opening up, the Chinese delegates said.

President Xi Jinping and the Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, met at the Oriental Economic Forum recently and said China-Japan relations are on a normal track thanks to the joint work of both sides. Premier Li Keqiang paid an official visit to Japan in May and agreement on certain areas of collaboration were reached. Abe will pay an official visit to China this month. With the help of high-level exchanges, the China-Japan relationship has improved at a healthy pace, and there are important opportunities for development.

The Chinese delegates said economic and trade relations between the two countries have moved in a good direction recently. Bilateral high-level dialogue has resumed in many fields such as economics, finance, industry and culture. There has also been a rapid increase in trade, investment and personnel exchanges. As the world’s second- and third-largest economies, China and Japan should work together to firmly oppose trade protectionism and jointly safeguard the international economic order, regional stability and prosperity. Entrepreneurs from both sides should work to stabilize the long-term friendship and improve the quality of economic and trade cooperation.

The Japanese side said that the trend of economic globalization is irreversible. Economic and trade collaboration between China and Japan is rich in content and broad in scope. Both sides should promote investment and trade facilitation and liberalization, work practically together to upgrade manufacturing and service industries, deal with the issues of aging populations, and achieve coordinated economic and environmental development. In so doing they could jointly promote the overall improvement of Japan-China relations and contribute to stable growth of the world economy.

The two sides also conducted in-depth exchanges on issues such as China's upgrading of consumption, energy conservation and environmental protection, clean energy cooperation, China’s further opening-up, joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative, third-party market cooperation and prospects for negotiations on bilateral free trade agreements.

At the end of the dialogue, a joint statement was issued in which the two sides expressed their hopes that the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement and the construction of China-Japan-ROK Free Trade Area, now being discussed, can be implemented as soon as possible and at a high level.

On adapting to the huge demand for infrastructure construction in Asia and promoting the development of third-party markets within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, the two sides agreed on giving full play to respective advantages and accelerating the establishment of close partnerships.

In ensuring openness, transparency, economic feasibility and financial soundness, bilateral exchanges – including meetings of the China-Japan Third-Party Cooperation Committee on Civil Commerce and the China-Japan Third-Party Market Cooperation Forum – are expected to play an ever greater role.

The two sides said that as the important role of companies in innovation was underlined, companies of both countries need to work together in this field with new ideas and new perspectives.

Especially in the context of China's implementation of mass entrepreneurship and innovation and Japan's promotion of the super smart society 5.0, the two countries reached agreement on promoting innovation, sharing ideas and learning from each other to maintain the sustainable development of the Asian region.

It is expected that the two countries can work together through both official and civil channels to promote the improvement of the institutional environment.

It was agreed that the economy and the environment must work together in harmony. Both sides should develop green energy, promote energy conservation and jointly contribute to solving world environmental problems such as climate change. Tourism and culture were also seen as important areas of collaboration.

The two sides spoke highly of the high-level dialogue between Chinese and Japanese entrepreneurs and former senior officials, seen as playing an important role in deepening economic and industrial ties and promoting mutual understanding.

The China-Japan Dialogue between Entrepreneurs and Former Senior Officials was jointly organized by the China Center for International Economic Exchange and the Japan Federation of Economic Organizations. It aims to build a platform for the exchange of ideas and views in business circles. As a non-governmental dialogue, it promotes China-Japanese economic and trade collaboration and strives to improve bilateral relations. Three rounds of meetings had earlier been held in Beijing and Tokyo.