Published : 2024-06-24

On June 24, 1973, Tianjin, China, and Kobe, Japan, established a "sister city" relationship. Tianjin became the first Chinese city to establish a friendly relationship with a foreign city.

In June 1973, eight months after the normalisation of diplomatic relations between China and Japan, Tatsuo MIYAZAKI (宮崎辰雄), the then Mayor of Kobe, visited China as a member of the "Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe City Mayoral Friendship Delegation to China", at the invitation of the Japan-China Friendship Association (日中友好協會).

During this time, Tianjin and Kobe held a ceremony in the Tianjin People's Auditorium to establish their sister city relationship, where both sides signed the "Agreement on Establishing a Sister City Relationship between Tianjin and Kobe"(天津市和神戶市建立友好城市關係協議書), expressing their joint efforts to foster friendship between the people of China and Japan and promote cooperative relations between the two cities.

Kobe is the capital of Hyogo Prefecture and the sixth-largest city in Japan. Historically, it has had opened areas for foreign residents. Kobe has significant advantages in China-Japan exchanges.

In the 1930s, 30% to 40% of Japan's trade with China was exported to China through Kobe Port. Furthermore, many Chinese revolutionaries have close connections with Kobe, including Sun Yat-sen (孫中山), who carried out revolutionary activities in Kobe.

There is a Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall (孫文紀念館) there, the only one in Japan that specifically commemorates Sun Yat-sen.

Historically, Kobe has been a local government that highly supports the friendship between China and Japan and the normalisation of diplomatic relations.

As early as 1970, members of Kobe City Council jointly submitted a "Resolution Requesting the Normalisation of Diplomatic Relations and Promotion of China-Japan Trade" to the Japanese government, urging it to normalise China-Japan diplomatic relations.