On the morning of October 19, 2018, Mr. Tadao Heyi, Counsellor of the Japanese Embassy in China, Li Wei, President of the Japanese Society of China, and Li Chunguang, Deputy Director of the Cooperation Office of Shanghai Research Institute visited the Japan Research Center of Shanghai Jiaotong University and held talks with Ji Weidong, Director of the Japan Research Center.
During the talks, Director Ji Weidong first extended a warm welcome to Counselor Heyi, President Li Wei and Deputy Director Li Chunguang for their guidance. Later, he expressed his gratitude to Counsellor Heyi for the warm welcome received from the Institute of Comprehensive Financial Policy of the Ministry of Finance of Japan during the visit of the International Cooperation Center of the National Development and Reform Commission to Japan in March 2017.
The participants talked in the conference room of the Japan Research Center
Later, Ji Weidong introduced the staff composition and current activities of the Japan Research Center to Counselor Heyi, President Li Wei and Deputy Director Li Chunguang. He said that at present, the WeChat official account platform of Japan Research Center "Japan Observation" has attracted more than 1000 users since its establishment. The Japan Research Center is also about to launch a Japanese research journal. The first public LED speech conference "TELL+JAPAN" hosted by the Daily Research Center will be held on November 24. On September 3, 2018, the first China Japan Corporate Legal Forum hosted by the Japan Research Center was successfully held in Tokyo, Japan. The forum received extensive attention from Chinese and Japanese corporate legal professionals and scholars. The number of participants reached 380, which was unprecedented. In the future, the forum is planned to be held alternately in Shanghai, China and Tokyo, Japan, aiming to build an in-depth dialogue and exchange platform between Chinese and Japanese corporate legal experts, government functional departments, lawyers and legal experts. At present, the number of Japanese enterprises in Shanghai has reached 10 times the number of Japanese enterprises in Beijing. Japanese enterprises in Shanghai have an extremely strong demand for legal training. Therefore, the Japan Research Center is also expected to conduct legal training for Japanese enterprises in Shanghai in the future. At the same time, the Japan Research Center has signed an agreement with the Commercial Press to translate and publish Japanese law related monographs.
Counsellor Heyi made a speech
Counsellor Heyi said that since he served as Counsellor of the Japanese Embassy in China in 2016, Japan has ushered in two years of gradual easing of relations with China from tension, so he felt very lucky. 2017 marks the 40th anniversary of the normalization of China Japan diplomatic relations, while this year marks the 40th anniversary of the conclusion of the China Japan peace and friendship treaty. It can be said that 2017 and 2018 are two years of concentrated improvement in China Japan relations. In December 2017, the Financial Department of Japan, which has the supervision authority of audit legal persons, and the Ministry of Finance of China reached an agreement on the information exchange framework for the supervision and inspection of accounting audit legal persons. In this regard, Japanese enterprises can issue bonds denominated in RMB - Panda Bonds in Chinese Mainland. Specifically, Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ and Mizuho Bank have been approved to issue Panda Bonds in China at the beginning of this year. It is expected that enterprises other than banks will also issue Panda Bonds. At present, due to Japan's domestic negative interest rate policy, China's financial market is very attractive to Japanese enterprises. China's confirmation of the policy of opening the financial market to foreign capital will greatly promote the cooperation between China and Japan in the securities and other related industries and capital markets in the future. In May 2018, Premier Li Keqiang of the State Council of China published a signed article in Asahi Shimbun, one of the most influential newspapers in Japan, saying that China would sign a bilateral currency swap agreement with Japan, and announced that it would grant a quota to Japan's qualified foreign investors (RQFII). Prime Minister Abe's visit to China this month may be an opportunity for China and Japan to restart the "currency swap agreement". In addition, China will designate a RMB clearing bank in Tokyo. All these will provide broad space for Japan to actively participate in the process of China's financial reform and opening up, and for Chinese financial institutions to deepen cooperation with Japan. The cooperation in the securities market is also a hot topic at the Japan China Summit. I hope to study a series of cooperation between Tokyo Stock Exchange and Shanghai Stock Exchange in the future. It includes the feasibility study of listed funds linked by the stock index indexes of both sides. In terms of customs, cooperation between China and Japan has been further strengthened. After the September 11 incident, the customs review of various countries was tightened, and the speed of customs clearance of imported goods by enterprises was greatly reduced. Enterprises that have obtained AEO certification will enjoy lower inspection rate, simplified document review, priority in customs clearance and other convenient measures, and the efficiency of customs clearance has significant advantages over other imported goods. At present, there are about 3000 advanced certification AEO enterprises mutually recognized by the customs of China and other countries (regions). The number in Japan is 680. In the future, China and Japan are expected to achieve AEO mutual recognition, which will further promote trade between China and Japan.
Li Wei, President of the China Japan Society, made a speech
President Li Wei thanked Counsellor Heyi for his speech and asked questions: In the exclusive interview with Prime Minister Abe by Phoenix TV, Abe mentioned that "we should continue to promote high-level exchanges, promote bilateral relations, and promote the development of bilateral relations in line with the new era". What exactly does the "new era" mean. The two also exchanged views on the extent of Japan's cooperation with China under the pressure of the United States. In this regard, Counsellor Heyi said that Abe's use of the "new era" is a hope that China Japan relations will enter a new stage in the future. In the past five years, China Japan relations have gradually recovered from "negative" (-) development to "horizontal" ("0") development. Abe's speech is believed to be looking forward to China Japan relations moving from "0" development to "positive" (+) development. In terms of trade, in the past, the development mode of trade cooperation between China and Japan was mainly Japan's direct investment in China, which was made by setting up factories in China and using cheap labor to manufacture goods before exporting. However, such cooperation mode is outdated now. In the future, China and Japan are hopeful to conduct third-party market cooperation between private enterprises of the two countries. This can also be called the "new era" cooperation mode between China and Japan, which has changed from mutual competition to joint development. In terms of financial market, China has further opened its own financial market, which also enables China and Japan to enter a "new era" of cooperation. However, as intellectual property rights, root servers, high-tech in the information industry and other issues are regarded as "values" by the United States, Japan usually has concerns about the "bottom line" of the United States when "balancing" between the United States and China. In this regard, Li Wei said that China is a big philosophical country, so it often uses abstract words to express important ideas. Therefore, China will pay special attention to statements made by Japanese leaders using similar words, and believes that China Japan relations will also usher in new prospects for development.
