TOKYO - A delegation dispatched by the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation held a reception for Japanese friends in Tokyo Sunday evening in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between China and Japan.Former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Takeshi Noda, former head of the Komeito party Akihiro Ohta, as well as descendants of Toten Miyazaki and Shokichi Umeya, both friends with Sun Yat-sen who was a great forerunner of China's democratic revolution, attended the reception.Wang Jiarui, chairman of the foundation and head of the delegation, said at the reception that Soong Ching Ling, the late Honorary President of the People's Republic of China and in whose name the foundation was set up, married Sun Yat-sen in Japan in 1915.The couple's lasting friendship with their Japanese friends, while playing a positive role for China's democratic revolution, has been a much-told story on friendly exchanges between the peoples of China and Japan, Wang said.Wang added that the delegation, kicking off their visit on Saturday with the theme "ping-pong friendship," will also go to schools and local communities to communicate with Japanese ping-pong players and ping-pong lovers and common citizens.Yukio Hatoyama said that ping-pong diplomacy, the exchanges between ping-pong players of the United States and China in the early 1970s which first began at the 31st World Table Tennis Championships held in Nagoya, Japan in 1971, also paved the way for China and Japan to normalize bilateral diplomatic relationship.He said that he believes the delegation, including those who experienced the ping-pong diplomacy in the 1970s and ping-pong world champions, will make further contribution to bilateral friendship between China and Japan.Takeshi Noda, lawmaker from Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said that China has scored a lot of great achievements since implementing the reform and opening up policy 40 years ago and played an important role in almost all areas in the world.He said he saw no reason that China and Japan shouldn't stay friendly to each other in the next 40 years, and that as China and Japan are close neighbors, it is very important for them to have a friendly relationship.Earlier in the day, members of the delegation took part in the first China-Japan International Ping-pong Communication Competition here in Tokyo.The delegation will head for Nagoya on Tuesday to attend a high-school ping-pong communication event and visit the Ping-pong Diplomacy Memorial Wall. twenty one pilots rubber braceletplain black silicone wristbandssilicone wristbandfournisseur bracelet siliconecustom silicone wristbands
VIENTIANE - Chinese Ambassador to Laos Wang Wentian on Friday said the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) has entered the phase of further growth from the phase of nurturing.Wang made the remarks when addressing the LMC Week held in the Lao capital of Vientiane.Under the framework of the cooperation mechanism, China has set up 10-billion-yuan ($1.58 billion) concessional loans, a $5-billion special loan on production capacity cooperation and a $5-billion preferential export buyers' credits to support infrastructure and production capacity cooperation in the sub-region, said Wang.China has also set up a special purpose fund of $300 million for five years to support the small and medium cooperation projects proposed by the six countries, he added."LMC has achieved better-than-expected results, and is entering a phase of further growth from the phase of nurturing," he said.Institutional platform building has made steady progress, with a four-tiered meeting mechanism in place consisting of meeting among leaders, foreign ministers, senior officials and working groups, he said.Major development projects are moving forward smoothly, Wang said, adding that financial support that China pledged is being delivered, and construction of the China-Laos Railway and the China-Thailand Railway has been underway.Wang said he believed in the next two years, as the co-chair countries, China and Laos will work closely to implement the consensus reached in January at the second leaders' meeting in Cambodia and actively plan for the next step.Over 200 representatives from the Lao foreign ministry, ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) embassies and other foreign embassies and missions participated in the event.The LMC is a sub-regional cooperation mechanism connecting six countries along the river, Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.
