Foreign and Military Affairs

Japan should 'open up' to Chinese markets

By Ma Xiaotang (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-08-31 07:23

TOKYO - China's continuing transformation of its mode of economic development has opened up new opportunities for Sino-Japanese trade.

This was the thrust of the Chinese delegation at the sixth annual Beijing-Tokyo Forum in the Japanese capital on Monday.

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China hopes to foster a new pattern of economic growth that is jointly driven by consumption, investment and export, instead of relying on investment and export for economic growth, said Wei Jianguo, secretary-general of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges.

As the transformation progresses, China's domestic market will explode in scale, leading to increased demand for imports from other countries, Wei said, adding that China will also see an expansion of its service industry.

"As China's neighbor, Japan has a clear advantage in opening up to the Chinese market," Wei said. "It should seize the opportunity, increase exports to China and speed up its economic development."

Japan has valuable experience of upgrading its industrial structure, said Su Ning, chairman of China UnionPay.

He noted that since the 1970s the Japanese government has taken the initiative in speeding up the pace of economic restructuring, which changed its export-oriented economy into a domestic demand-oriented economy, following the path of coordinated growth at home and abroad.

"As a result, Japan improved significantly as an economic entity in terms of balance and sustainability," Su said.

Despite the apparent opportunities, participants at the forum pointed out problems and raised questions involved about in furthering Sino-Japanese trade relations.