Japan-China Relations

 (1) Date and time: From 9:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. (including working lunch) on March 19 (Thur.), 2015 

 

 (2) Venue: Tokyo (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Iikura Guest House)

 

 (3) Participants

(Japanese side)Ministry of Foreign Affairs:
 Mr. Shinsuke Sugiyama, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Junichi Ihara, Director-General of Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, and Mr. Atsushi Ueno, Director of  First China and Mongolia Division, and others. 

 Ministry of Defense: Mr. Atsuo Suzuki, Deputy Director General of the Defense Policy Bureau, Mr. Masanori Yoshida, Director, International Policy division, and others

(Chinese side) Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Mr. Liu Jianchao, Assistant Minister, and others 

 Ministry of National Defense: Mr. Ci Guowen, Foreign Affairs Office Deputy Director (Major General), and others 

 Embassy of the PRC in Japan: Cheng Yonghua, Ambassador, Xu Bin, Defense Attach? (Major General), and others 

 

 (4) Agenda: Japan's security and defense policies, China's security and defense policies, Japan-China Security Cooperation and Japan-China Defense Exchange, and the international and regional security situation.

The Japanese side gave an explanation on Japan's security and defense policies while mentioning that the security environment in East Asia has been drastically changing in recent years.

The Japanese side gave explanations mainly on the efforts for more proactively contributing to the peace and stability of the international society, from the standpoint of proactive contribution to peace based on the principle of international cooperation, and the improvement of defense capabilities based on the new National Defense Program Guidelines. Moreover, the Japanese side stressed that Japan would continue to adhere to the course that it has taken since the end of World War II as a peace-loving nation.

 

The Chinese side gave an explanation on China's security policy and future policies, and stated that China has been consistently maintaining its national development strategy of ''peaceful development'' and defense-oriented national defense policy.

In response to the above, the Japanese side requested further improvement of transparency regarding China's national defense policy and modernization of its military forces.

 

Both parties shared views on the necessity to more frequently holding direct dialogues in the field of security and defense, and also shared the view that they would enhance exchanges in that field. Moreover, both parties once again confirmed that they would make efforts for an early implementation of ''Maritime and Aerial Communication Mechanism between the Japan-China defense authorities.''

 

Both parties shared views on the importance of coordinating and cooperating with each other on global issues such as PKO, anti-piracy and international terrorism.