China is ready to improve conditions for Japanese firms to
invest in the country, Vice-Premier Zeng Peiyan has said.
Speaking at the first China-Japan high-level economic dialogue
on Saturday, Zeng said: "China and Japan share expanding mutual
interests and new opportunities for cooperation under new
historical conditions. We should create a new pattern of economic
and trade cooperation, with emphasis both on commodities and
services."
The meeting was co-chaired by Zeng and Japanese Foreign Minister
Masahiko Komura. Premier Wen Jiabao and then Japanese Prime
minister Shinzo Abe launched the China-Japan high-level economic
dialogue in April.
Zeng said a slowdown in the growth rate of bilateral trade,
unsatisfactory business environment, obstacles in technological
cooperation and fluctuation in Japanese investment in China were
the four main problems in Sino-Japanese economic ties.
China hopes Japan considers its concerns on its market economy
status, trade conditions, export of high and new technologies and
exchange of personnel, he said.
The vice-premier called for improved technological exchanges in
energy-saving and environmental protection and working more closely
on global and regional economic issues.
The dialogue is very important for building strategic ties at
the economic level, said Komura, who is leading the Japanese
delegation. "The practical talks will certainly be successful."
He, too, urged both sides to deepen cooperation in environmental
protection, energy-saving and other fields.
National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) Minister Ma
Kai said the government would promote introduction of Japanese
technologies through pilot projects in the country.
Japan is expected to offer energy-saving training to 300 Chinese
officials in the next three years, Ma said, and 150 officials had
already benefited from it, helping China stipulate relevant laws
and regulations.
State Environmental Protection Administration Minister Zhou
Shengxian said China would like to learn how to prevent water
pollution from Japan. The two countries could even launch a model
program to check water pollution in the Yangtze River.
The two sides, Zeng said, should increase investment in each
other's countries, and cooperate in the fields of equipment
manufacturing, information technology, logistics and hi-tech
products.
They should hold more talks on product quality standards and
protection of intellectual property rights to improve the trade and
investment environment, he said.
"As the two biggest economies in Asia, China and Japan have
great responsibility to maintain economic stability across the
world and ensure prosperity in East Asia."
Such dialogues can help solve problems like China's market
economy status and the limits imposed on some domestic firms'
exports to Japan, said Zhang Xiaoji, an expert with the State
Council's Development Research Center.
Jin Xide, a researcher with the Institute of Japanese Studies
under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, thinks the mechanism
could play a major role in helping the two countries take bilateral
economic ties to a higher level.
Japan is China's third largest trade partner and the second
largest source of its foreign direct investment. And China is
Japan's largest trade partner and one of Japan's fastest growing
export markets.
(Xinhua News Agency December 3, 2007)
