On July 27, Ba Dianjun, Deputy Director of the Northeast Asian Research Center of Jilin University, attended the 2nd “China-Japan Friendship and People-to-People Exchange” Forum at the invitation of the Institute of Japanese Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the China Human Rights Development Foundation.

Co-hosted by the China Human Rights Development Foundation and the Japan-China Friendship Center, the forum gathered more than 50 experts and scholars from 20 universities and research institutions in China and Japan. Distinguished participants included Xie Fuzhan, Chairman of the China Human Rights Development Foundation; Cheng Yonghua, former Chinese Ambassador to Japan; Yang Bojiang, Director of the Institute of Japanese Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; Kanemura Kenji, Japanese Ambassador to China; and Miyamoto Yuji, former Japanese Ambassador to China.

At the forum, Cheng Yonghua pointed out that amid the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, China and Japan should adhere to the principle of moving toward each other and strictly follow the principles established by the four Sino-Japanese political documents. Delivering a speech for the fourth session themed “Learning from History and Facing the Future: Jointly Promoting Lasting Global Peace and Development”, Yang Bojiang stated that sound China-Japan relations rely on joint efforts of both peoples, and the two countries should move forward steadily on the basis of respecting history.

Kanemura Kenji noted that improving public sentiment between the two countries remains a major challenge for bilateral relations. Continuous exchanges and dialogue are essential for mutual understanding and trust. Miyamoto Yuji emphasized that promoting a stable and strategic mutually beneficial relationship has become a shared consensus. He stressed the need to strengthen civilian and academic exchanges to further deepen bilateral ties.

Ba Dianjun, Deputy Director of the Northeast Asian Research Center of Jilin University, stated that China and Japan enjoy broad prospects for cooperation in non-traditional security fields. He suggested extensive bilateral collaboration in public health, aging society governance, and epidemic prevention mechanisms, and proposed establishing a China-Japan digital cooperation zone. He argued that regional and inter-regional cooperation represents an inevitable trend for future bilateral development. Relying on high-level mutual trust, the two sides should strengthen multilateral institutional coordination and rule alignment, and prioritize cooperation in emerging fields such as climate governance, digital economy and aging governance to inject new vitality into bilateral relations.

The forum provided an in-depth academic exchange platform for Chinese and Japanese scholars and offered new insights and directions for the future development of China-Japan friendly relations.