On February 18, Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao met and held talks with a visiting Japanese business delegation led by Chairman of the Japan-China Economic Association Kosei Shindo, Chairman of the Japan Business Federation Tokura Masakazu, and Chairman of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry Ken Kobayashi. The two sides exchanged views on China-Japan economic and trade relations, regional and multilateral cooperation, and so on. Assistant Minister of Commerce Tang Wenhong presided over the meeting.

Wang Wentao said that China’s economic fundamentals are solid, new productive forces are injecting a strong impetus into high-quality economic development, and the renewal and trade-in policies are boosting consumption demand. The third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) has made arrangements on improving institutions and mechanisms for pursuing high-standard opening up. China has completely removed the restrictions on the access of foreign investment in the manufacturing industry, pushed forward the expansion of opening up in the telecommunication, health care, education and other services industries, and promoted the implementation of the “24 Measures”, creating a first-class business environment that is market-oriented, law-based and internationalized, which provides new opportunities for foreign enterprises, including Japanese ones, to develop in China.

Wang Wentao stressed that China and Japan are deeply integrated economically, and the two sides should work together to implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, strengthen policy communication, clarify the boundaries of economic security, maintain the stability of the industrial and supply chains, oppose protectionism and unilateralism, safeguard the multilateral trading system with the WTO at its core, strengthen regional coordination such as in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, and push for the resumption of China-Japan-South Korea Free Trade Agreement negotiations, so as to provide a fair, transparent and predictable business environment for cooperation between enterprises of both countries. We look forward to expanding exchanges and visits between business communities of the two countries, and deepening cooperation in areas such as green development, health care and fitness, and trade in services, to promote the sound and stable development of China-Japan economic and trade relations.

The Japanese side said that Japan and China have close trade and investment ties as well as personnel exchanges, and they firmly believe that China’s economic growth will bring stability and prosperity to the world. They are ready to continuously deepen economic and trade cooperation with China, strengthen cooperation in the regional and multilateral fields, and contribute to China-Japan relations from the economic perspective.