Published : 2025-03-23
On March 23, 1984, then Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone (中曾根康) visited China.
During this visit, both China and Japan agreed to establish the "21st Century Committee for China-Japan Friendship". The Japanese side also referred to it as the "21st Century Committee for Japan-China Friendship".
The establishment of the 21st Century Committee for China-Japan Friendship was first proposed by Yasuhiro Nakasone in 1983 in response to then CPC General Secretary Hu Yaobang (胡耀邦)'s proposition during his visit to Japan, which aimed at seeking long-term stable development of China-Japan friendly and neighbourly relations.
The 21st Century Committee for China-Japan Friendship serves as a bond of friendship between the peoples of China and Japan, and its establishment further deepened the friendly relations between the two countries.
The committee comprises 10 members from each side, with representatives from the old, middle-aged, and young generations, making it widely representative of the public.
At that time, the chief committee member from the Chinese side was Wang Zhaoguo (王兆國), the former First Secretary of the Communist Youth League Central Committee, and the chief committee member from the Japanese side was Ishikawa Tadao (石川忠雄), President of Keio University.
The committee's daily working bodies are located respectively in the Asian Department of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Asian Bureau of Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Its main function is to study ways to achieve long-term stable development of friendly neighbourly relations between China and Japan in all aspects, including politics, economy, culture, and science and technology, based on the basic principles of the "China-Japan Government Joint Statement" and the "China-Japan Peace and Friendship Treaty", adhering to the four principles of "peace and friendship, equality and mutual benefit, mutual trust, and long-term stability", and to provide suggestions to the governments of both countries.
In September 1984, the first meeting of the Committee was held in Tokyo, Japan. Wang Zhaoguo, the chief committee member from the Chinese side, delivered the "Keynote Report", while Ishikawa Tadashi, the chief committee member from the Japanese side, delivered the "Keynote Report on the Mid-to-Long Term Outlook of China-Japan Relations".
In his report, Wang Zhaoguo proposed making the 21st century a century of even greater friendship between China and Japan, which was made the common goal of the committees of both sides.
During the meeting, both sides decided to establish special committees for mid-to-long term relations between China and Japan, economic and technological exchanges, and youth cultural exchanges, and also proposed and passed the establishment of a "China-Japan Youth Exchange Centre" in Beijing.
