According to Xinhua News Agency, Yohei Kono, president of the Japan Association for the Promotion of International Trade and former speaker of the House of Representatives, and a delegation of Japanese economic circles to China led by him held talks with high-level Chinese officials at the Great Hall of the People. During the talks, the Chinese side mentioned that it welcomes Japanese companies to further expand investment and cooperation in China, and hopes that the Japan Association for the Promotion of International Trade will play a better role as a bridge and continue to be a practitioner of China-Japan friendship, a promoter of mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Japan, and a defender of the stability of global industrial and supply chains. Yohei Kono said that the Japan Association for the Promotion of International Trade will continue to devote itself to promoting economic and trade exchanges between Japan and China and make new contributions to the cause of Japan-China friendship.
However, according to a report by Japan's Kyodo News Agency, Yohei Kono made three demands to the Chinese side during the talks, one of which was to find out about the attack on the Japanese mother and son in Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province, and asked the Chinese side to give a clear explanation, that is, whether this was a case against the Japanese. The day after the incident, the Suzhou police and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had already made a clear response, saying that the incident was an accidental incident, and stressed that China will continue to take effective measures to protect the safety of foreigners in China in the same way as Chinese citizens.
The second request put forward by Yohei Kono fell on the issue of personnel exchanges between China and Japan, and asked the Chinese government to resume the visa-free measures for Japanese people to go to China for a short time. In fact, this is a common issue between China and Japan, and the Japanese side has put forward a request for the resumption of visa-free measures in its talks with the Chinese side on more than one occasion. At the end of May, when China, Japan, and the ROK held a summit meeting in Seoul, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida made a similar request to the Chinese head of government.
In late January, Japan sent a delegation composed of personnel from the Japan-China Economic Association and other institutions to visit China, and also expressed the hope that China would resume visa-free measures. However, the Chinese side has ignored the demands of the Japanese side, and there will be no new changes in the visit of the economic delegation led by Yohei Kono to China, as can be seen from the press release issued by the Chinese side.
As for Yohei Kono's third request, it is mainly in response to the new version of the "Counter-espionage Law" that has just been implemented for one year, and he asked the Chinese side to increase the transparency of the interpretation and application of the "Counter-espionage Law". This is nothing to do from any point of view, but in view of the fact that Japan used an all-pervasive spy war against China during the war of aggression against China, and even every Japanese who came to China was tasked with spying on China's intelligence, it is not difficult to understand why Japan pays so much attention to China's "Counter-espionage Law", because this law really pokes at Japan's sore spot.
As far as the Chinese side is concerned, it is completely understandable that Japan has sent an economic delegation to visit China while mentioning a series of things that have nothing to do with the economy, and it is purely to be the mouthpiece of the Japanese government, and there is no sincerity in the economic dialogue. The main reason why there are problems in Sino-Japanese economic exchanges that have led Japan to send economic delegations to China one after another is that Japan's economic policy has been controlled by the United States, and many measures have been taken to damage Sino-Japanese economic and trade cooperation.
On June 21, Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement announcing a new round of sanctions against individuals and groups that support Russia in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, including trade restrictions on several Chinese companies. This is the first time that Japan has sanctioned Chinese companies under the pretext of the Russia-Ukraine issue, although everyone knows that the United States is behind the pressure, but this does not mean that China can accept Japan's actions, and the negative impact caused by the end will naturally be borne by the Japanese economy.
Under these circumstances, Japan still wants to ease the increasingly tense economic and trade relations between China and Japan through an economic delegation, but the effect is very limited. What's more, China-Japan economic and trade exchanges have long been undermined by Japan's discharge of nuclear sewage, and Japan's following the United States' chip policy to contain China and restricting the export of key semiconductor chemical materials to China.