Chinese Survey Team for the Disaster in Sichuan Province to Visit Japan

July 24, 2008

To help formulate a program for rehabilitation from the Sichuan earthquake, the Government of China will dispatch a survey team consisting of 44 people headed by Mr. Qiu Baoxing, Vice Minister of Housing and Urban-rural Construction, to Japan from July 27 (Sun) to August 2 (Sat). During its stay in Japan, the survey team will visit the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Cabinet Office, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, and other earth-quake-rehabilitation related ministries and agencies, Niigata Prefecture and Hyogo Prefecture, to exchange views with officials concerned and visit facilities for disaster rehabilitation and prevention.
Regarding the formulation of the rehabilitation program as an urgent task, the Government of China, central and local governments together, has been working on the disaster and requesting Japan to provide it with earthquake-rehabilitation knowledge and know-how as Japan has experience in recovering from many earthquakes including the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. At the Japan-China summit meeting on July 9, therefore, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda proposed a five-point cooperative plan to President Hu Jintao and the two leaders agreed to promote cooperation in disaster rehabilitation.
The dispatch of the survey team is part of the abovementioned agreement between the leaders of Japan and China. It would be very useful for China in drawing up a program for rehabilitation from the Sichuan earthquake to exchange views with Japanese officials who are well versed in advanced technology and knowledge of earthquake rehabilitation and to visit such cities as Kobe and Niigata which have direct experience. Such activities will contribute to expanding the horizons of Japan-China exchange and promoting mutual understanding at grass-roots level.

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