Japanese, Chinese Field Officers Hold First Online Meeting Organized by Sasakawa Peace Foundation (1)
While the world has grappled with the novel coronavirus pandemic, the relationship between Japan and China has been getting colder in recent months, as if in step with the changing seasons.
Historically, relations between neighboring countries in many parts of the world are often plagued by sensitive issues. Of late, I have not heard of anything like “Friendship from generation to generation,” “A relationship separated only by a narrow strip of water,” or “Remember the person who dug the well,” all indicating friendly ties between neighboring states.
When Sino-Japanese ties were often characterized as “politically cool, but economically hot” some years ago, I told a senior Chinese official: “I can think of no better bilateral relationship than the one that exists between our two countries.” But he replied: “No way. For China, politics is a top priority.”
But believing that we should spare no effort to understand each other, no matter what bilateral relations are like, The Nippon Foundation and its partner organizations have been engaging in a wide variety of exchanges with China for decades.
The foundation started the Japan-China Sasakawa Medical Fellowship in 1986 to help China, which was still a developing country, take care of the health of its people from a humanitarian point of view. For the last 35 years, we have invited some 3,200 medical students and professionals to Japan to study and conduct joint research at universities, hospitals and research institutions all over the country.
Under the Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund (Sylff) program launched in 1987, we have supported about 9,000 Chinese fellows pursuing a master’s or PhD degree, or more than half of the 16,000 Sylff fellows at 69 universities in 44 countries around the world who have received scholarships from the fund.
Under the Education and Research Library Project, our sister organization, the Japan Science Society, donated a total of almost 4 million Japanese books to 75 universities across China.
Since 2001, the Sasakawa Japan-China Friendship Fund of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation has undertaken the Japan-China Field Officer Exchange Program for yearly exchange visits between active field officers of the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) and the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of the Chinese Communist Party.
A total of 152 Japanese and 228 Chinese officers have visited each other’s country under the program. The mutual visits were suspended in 2012 due to the deterioration of bilateral political relations and restarted in 2018.
During these exchanges, field officers toured the host country’s ground, marine, and air force bases; undertook studies on national defense policies; exchanged opinions with defense officials and civilians; visited businesses and agricultural villages; and traveled to historic and cultural sites in efforts to foster mutual understanding and facilitate friendships between Japanese and Chinese officers.
However, the novel coronavirus pandemic forced the two countries to suspend the program in 2020 and 2021.
This prompted Mr. Hu Yiping, a program officer of the Sasakawa Japan-China Friendship Fund, to arrange for the two countries to hold the first online meeting between field officers of the SDF and the PLA on October 29, 2021, with a view to continuing exchanges between them even under the COVID-19 restrictions. This was their first contact since the PLA delegation visited Japan in September 2019.
(To be continued)