Chinese On the evening of May 16, the Sasakawa Peace Foundation held a welcome meeting in Tokyo for the exchange of middle-level cadres of the Chinese People's Liberation Army and middle-level cadres of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces, "Japan-China Colonel-level Officer Exchange", to welcome the head of the Chinese delegation to Japan, deputy director of the International Military Cooperation Office of the Central Military Commission, and Army Major General Zhang Baoqun and his party, which is the second visit to Japan in about 5 years since the visit of a Chinese colonel-level officer delegation to Japan before the epidemic in September 2019. Zhang Baoqun said at the welcome meeting: "We came to Japan to sow the seeds of hope for the future and lay a solid foundation for the development of Sino-Japanese relations. ”
Chinese colonel-level officers visit Japan
Yohei Sasakawa Chairman of the Nippon Foundation and Honorary Chairman of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, Yoshi Nishino, Director of the International Policy Division of the Policy Bureau of the Japanese Ministry of Defense, Atsushi Kakunan, Chairman of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, and Major General Zhang Baoqun, Deputy Director of the International Military Cooperation Office of the Central Military Commission of China, delivered speeches at the welcoming meeting.
Yohei Sasakawa President
Major General Zhang Baoqun
Hiroshi Nishino, Section Manager
The delegation, which consisted of 20 members from major generals to majors, held an exchange activity in Japan from 14 to 20 June between PLA colonel-level officers and middle-level cadres of the Self-Defense Forces. Visits and inspections of the Ministry of Defense, the Ground Self-Defense Force Health School, Toppan Printing, the Printing Museum, Hikone Castle, the Air Self-Defense Force Komaki Base (Komaki City, Aichi Prefecture), and the Maritime Self-Defense Force Maizuru Base (Maizuru City, Kyoto Prefecture).
Kakunan Atsushi Chairman of the Board
Since 2001, the Sasakawa Peace Foundation and the Sasakawa Japan-China Friendship Fund have been promoting exchanges and trust-building between China and Japan in the field of security through non-governmental channels. Thanks to the efforts of relevant people from both China and Japan, a total of 165 self-defense officers at the school level visited China and 248 officers at the rank of colonel of the People's Liberation Army visited Japan as part of the "Japan-China Colonel-level Officer Exchange" project.
Translator, moderator
In October 2000, the Sasakawa Japan-China Friendship Fund organized a delegation to China headed by former Prime Minister Ryutaro Kiyomoto. He conveyed to the Chinese side the purpose of the "Japan-China Officer-level Exchange" project, saying that the plan was aimed at promoting the peaceful development of China and Japan in the field of security and strengthening exchanges and mutual understanding at the rank of colonel-level officers, and was implemented on the basis of the agreement reached between President Jiang Zemin and former Prime Minister Hashimoto at that time.
Chinese colonel-level officers visit Japan
From 25 November to 7 December 2003, the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) sent 20 colonel-level officers and 5 defense experts to Japan. The delegation visited former Prime Minister Hashimoto, Secretary General of the Defense Agency Shigeru Ishiba, Chairman of the Council of Chiefs of Staff Ishikawa, and other dignitaries, and had friendly exchanges, and visited the facilities of the Army, Navy, and Air Self-Defense Force, the Defense Research Institute, and the National Defense University. The delegation held talks with then Defense Minister Cao Gangchuan, Deputy Chief of General Staff Xiong Guangkai, and others, and inspected the facilities of the Army, Navy, and Air Force.
Chinese and Japanese participants
After returning to Japan, participants from both sides held a summary meeting to report the results of the exchanges to defense agencies and related people of the two countries through military exchanges as well as military exchanges and mutual understanding of each other's societies and cultures, as well as visits to businesses, rural areas, and ordinary homes.
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The project was suspended in September 2012 due to tensions between China and Japan over the Diaoyu Islands, and was restarted in 2018.
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After a three-year hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Japan Self-Defense Forces delegation paid a courtesy call on Jing Jianfeng, deputy chief of staff of the Joint Staff of the Central Military Commission of China, on security issues in Beijing on July 17, 2023, with members of the China Institute for International Strategic Studies, a Chinese military think tank. The delegation arrived in Beijing on 16 July of that year, and then went to Qingdao, Shandong Province, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, and Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, to exchange views with PLA-related facilities in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, and returned to Japan on 24 July.
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At the welcoming meeting, Yohei Sasakawa introduced the origin and current situation of the undertaking and introduced his meeting with Zhang Xiongguangkai, then deputy general staff officer of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, in Beijing in 2000, and put forward suggestions for exchanges, which were endorsed by Xiong Guangkai, deputy chief of general staff. Yohei Sasakawa said: The exchange between officers of the Chinese People's Liberation Army and the Japanese Self-Defense Forces is important for promoting peace between the two countries and the world, and recalled the difficulties encountered in this exchange activity and the process of restarting after the epidemic, and wished that during the visit to Japan, not only exchanges with the officials of the Self-Defense Forces will also have an in-depth understanding of Japanese culture and society, and fruitful results.
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Sasakawa revealed that a delegation from the Self-Defense Forces plans to visit China this fall.
On behalf of all the members of the delegation, Zhang Baoqun expressed his gratitude to Mr. Yohei Sasakawa and the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, the Japanese Ministry of Defense, and people from all walks of life for their thoughtful arrangements and warm reception.
As a landmark project of Sino-Japanese non-governmental exchanges, the Sino-Japanese military officer exchange program has gone through a course of more than 20 years since 2000, and more than 400 officers of the two countries have participated in this project, which has played an irreplaceable role in maintaining the continuity of Sino-Japanese defense exchanges, enhancing mutual understanding, friendship and mutual trust between young officers of the two countries, and improving the defense relations between China and Japan.
Hiroshi Nishino, Director of the International Policy Division of the Policy Bureau of the Ministry of Defense, Atsushi Kakunan, Chairman of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, and Yoshi Nishino, Director of the International Policy Division of the Policy Bureau of the Ministry of Defense, also delivered speeches at the welcoming ceremony, calling for mutual understanding through exchange activities.
At the welcoming meeting, the officers of the two countries had a warm exchange in Japanese, Chinese, and English, and Chairman Yohei Sasakawa also cordially talked with the officers of the Chinese delegation and took a group photo. (Zhang Shi Photography)