On April 8th, President Li Xiaolin met with Matsui Shunichi, Chairman of Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China and Mitsubishi Corporation in Eastern Asian District and his delegation. Wang Xiuyun, the director-general of the department of Japanese Affairs of Chinese People''s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), attended the meeting.

President Li expressed her compliments on the contributions made by Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China and Mitsubishi Corporation to promoting the friendship between China and Japan for a great many years. President Li said that since the program of “Entering Japanese Company and Experiencing Japanese Culture” for the Chinese university students was jointly held by CPAFFC, China-Japan Friendship Association and Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China in 2007, more than 400 Chinese university students have visited Japan in 13 times. Through visiting Japan, the Chinese university students’ understanding of the Japanese society and economy was deepened, and the friendship of the young generation between the two countries was enhanced.

President Li pointed out that at present the relationship between China and Japan was confronted with severe difficulties, which would inevitably influenced the exchanges and cooperation in various fields. This was not what China would like to see. She hoped that the personages of various circles in two countries could work hard together with firm belief, and make more contributions which benefits the friendship of the two countries, including strengthening the exchanges and cooperation in fields of economy, culture, sports, local government and youth, so as to maintain the general interest of China-Japan relationship.

Matsui Shunichi congratulated CPAFFC on her 60th anniversary of the establishment and thanked President Li and CPAFFC’s long-term and active efforts on promoting the development of China-Japan relationship. He expressed that, in the difficult situation of China-Japan relationship, the two countries should insist in friendly exchanges and broadening the pragmatic cooperation in various fields, so as to enhance the mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples. He would like to continuously strengthen the cooperation with CPAFFC in the future, and urge China-Japan relationship to improve with people-to-people contact.