Fifty-five college students from China and Japan gathered in
Beijing on Friday to discuss China-Japan relations, protection of
intellectual property rights and catering culture through the
weekend.
The 30 Chinese and 25 Japanese students from 24 universities,
including the Peking University, Tsinghua University, the
University of Tokyo and Waseda University, were attending the
annual China-Japan Student Conference.
They were grouped into five teams to study bilateral relations,
enterprises, international issues, education and culture of the two
countries, and were required to submit research papers.
"Similarities connect the friendship of Chinese and Japanese
students," said Michigami Hisashi, cultural attache of the Japanese
Embassy in China, adding a badminton match between students of the
two countries would be held on the sidelines as part of the 2007
Japan-China Cultural and Sports Exchange Year.
"The conference has proved to be an effective platform for
students to conduct face-to-face communication, understand
traditions and culture of the two countries, and promote an active
China-Japan non-governmental exchange," Yang Xiaofang, head of the
Chinese student delegation, told Xinhua.
Yang Xiao, one of the chief organizers of the conference, said
participants, who were also opinion leaders of the future,
expressed hope that the final report of their research during the
conference could be a real advisor of the development of the two
societies.
Initiated in 1987 by Japanese student volunteers and jointly
sponsored by Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its diplomatic
association, the China-Japan Student Conference has been held 25
times both in China and Japan over the past two decades.
(Xinhua News Agency August 18, 2007)
