China and Japan will continue to cooperate and improve their
product quality and food safety systems, said a press communique
issued on Monday?by the two countries after their first
high-level economic dialogue.
In the communique, the two countries agreed to solve issues of
common concern through technical negotiations through the end of
March 2008. These issues include exports of Chinese pumpkins and
the meat of artiodactyls (cattle, deer and similar hoofed animals)
to Japan, as well as Japanese rice exports to China.
According to discussions between the General Administration of
Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) and Japanese
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries officials Sunday, China has
agreed to import the second batch of 150 tons of rice from Japan
before next March, while Japan agreed to devise and launch working
procedures, including insect inspections of Japanese rice, by the
end of next March.
The first batch of Japanese rice, approximately 24 tons, hit the
shelves of department stores in Beijing and Shanghai in July and
has been sold out.
Japan said it would immediately launch domestic legal procedures
to ensure import bans on Chinese pumpkins could be lifted by the
end of next March.
It promised to start importing Chinese artiodactyl meat by the
end of March, 2008, after it finished inspections of the products
of 35 Chinese companies that sell such items.
The two sides also agreed to conduct exchanges and consultations
on quarantine and inspection techniques before next May amid
efforts to resume Japanese imports of frozen raw poultry from
China, according to the AQSIQ.
The press communique said the two countries agreed to further
strengthen exchanges and cooperation on quarantine and inspection
techniques of exporting agricultural products, so as to normalize
their bilateral trade.
The two countries also vowed in the press communique to
strengthen their cooperation on intellectual property rights
(IPR).
Japan will continue to send delegates on IPR protection to visit
China, carry out bilateral cooperation when amending major IPR laws
and regulations, and continue personnel training in this field.
The two sides agreed to continue discussions on provision of
relevant information on IPR infringement and exchanges and
cooperation between localities.
The two countries will also actively participate an East Asian
forum on new plant species protection, so as to coordinate and
strengthen systems in this regard.
Post-Kyoto Protocol framework?
China and Japan will participate in constructing a new framework
for tackling climate change after the Kyoto Protocol expires in
2012, according to the communique.
The two countries pledged to actively tackle climate change
under the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change and said that
the post-Kyoto framework should be an effective mechanism with the
participation of all major economies with responsible attitudes,
the communique said.
The Japanese explained the importance of establishing new
negotiation opportunities at the session of the Conference of the
Parties to the Climate Change Convention (COP) in Bali, Indonesia,
which opened on Monday.
The Chinese side said that it would research the proposal of the
Japanese side, the communique said.
Both sides acknowledged the effectiveness of multi-field
cooperation in the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development
and Climate (APP).
They agreed that, to effectively carry out measures to prevent
global warming, it was vital to include multi-faceted cooperation
under future mechanisms. Both sides agreed to push concerted
efforts to tackle public hazards and global warming, according to
the communique.
The two countries also pledged to enhance cooperation in
expanding experimental zones for recycling, improving water quality
in major waterways including the Yangtze, tackling air pollution,
and preventing illegal cross-border waste transfers, it said.
2nd high-level economic dialogue
China and Japan agreed to convene their second high-level
economic dialogue by the end of 2008, according to the
communique.
According to a bilateral communique, they had "frank" discussion
of issues concerning macro-economic policies, trade and investment,
climate change, environmental protection and multilateral and
regional economic cooperation.
Considering the interdependence of the Chinese and Japanese
economies as well as their increasing importance in the Asian and
world economies, both sides vowed to take the opportunity of the
dialogue to further promote Sino-Japan economic ties and make a
greater contribution to the sustained development of the world
economy, the communique said.
In the dialogue, the two sides reaffirmed "mutual-beneficial"
bilateral economic ties, the communique said. China spoke highly of
the funds that the Japanese government offered to China, and
appreciated the positive role of China-Japan non-governmental
economic exchanges in facilitating China's economic
development.
Japan believed China's economic development had contributed to
Japan's economic development, the communique said.
Both sides expressed appreciation for the role of high-level
economic dialogue in building bilateral, strategic, mutually
beneficial ties. And they agreed to convene the second dialogue by
the end of 2008, the communique said.
Assistance to third nations
China and Japan pledged to continue dialogues on the assistance
to third nations, according to the communique.
The two sides affirmed the importance of the development of
Africa. Japan invited China to attend the Tokyo International
Conference on African Development (TICADIV) next year, and China
would seriously consider the invitation, according to the
communique.
Both sides also agreed to push the Doha round negotiation to
reach agreement at an early date, and enhance cooperation in East
Asia regional economic integration, including the East Asian Free
Trade Agreement (EAFTA), Comprehensive Economic Partnership in East
Asia (CEPEA), and Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia, the
communique said.
The two sides expressed their willingness to strengthen
multilateralization of the Chiang-Mai Initiative and to foster the
Asian Bond Markets, it said.
Both sides assured to crack down on illegal activities involving
abuse of international financial and trade systems via money
laundering, terrorist fund and smuggling of goods harmful to the
society, the communique said.
Market economy status
China says in the communique with Japan that it hopes Japan
could recognize its market economy status as early as possible.
Some 30 years after it launched market-oriented reforms, China
has become the world's largest anti-dumping target -- largely
because it has been labeled a "non-market economy."
Vice Minister of Commerce Chen Deming has said in the dialogue
that he hopes Japan could make wise political decision from the
point of a sound bilateral trade relations and recognize China as a
full market economy as early as possible, so as to inject new
vitality to the development of bilateral trade relations.
Chen said that China is Japan's largest trading partner and
exporting market with fastest growth, while Japan is China's third
largest trading partner and second largest foreign investment
source. The China-Japan trade volume in 2006 exceeded 200 billion
US dollars.
Till now, 76 countries, including New Zealand, the Republic of
Korea, Switzerland, Norway and 10 member countries of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations have recognized China's
market economy status.
The first China-Japan high-level economic dialogue was held in
Beijing on Saturday. The mechanism was jointly launched by Chinese
Premier Wen Jiabao and then Prime Minister of Japan
Shinzo Abe during Wen's Japan trip in April.
(Xinhua News Agency December 3, 2007)
