On September 29, 2004, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs organized the Symposium on Commemorating the 40th Anniversary of Sending Permanent Journalists between China and Japan at Diaoyutai State Guest Hotel in Beijing.

Present at the symposium are nearly 100 people including Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei, Envoy Extraordinary & Minister Plenipotentiary Yoshio Nomoto of Japanese Embassy in China, some senior Chinese journalists once permanently stationed in Japan and senior Japanese journalists once permanently stationed in China, personnel in charge of Chinese media and journalists, representatives of present permanent journalists of Japan, officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other related Chinese government agencies. Deputy Director-General of the Information Department of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China Liu Jianchao hosted the meeting.

In his remarks, Wu Dawei said that it is of great significance for the journalist communities of China and Japan to jointly celebrate the 40th anniversary of sending permanent journalists to each other. Since the normalization of diplomatic ties of the two countries 32 years ago, China-Japan relations has achieved rapid development with the bilateral trade volume growing from US$1 billion to US$160 billion predicted this year. Personnel exchanges have risen from less than 100 people to last year's 3,680 thousand person-times and the number of friendly cities has increased from zero to 224 pairs. Bilateral cultural and information exchanges are increasingly intensive and extensive and the two countries have maintained close coordination in international and regional affairs.

Wu Dawei noted that in the new century, China and Japan should make joint efforts to establish mutually beneficial, friendly cooperative relations that better serve the realistic and long-term strategic interests of both countries. Both China and Japan are countries holding great influence in Asia and the world at large and share important historical obligations in terms of safeguarding peace and promoting development. The two sides should "draw lessons from history and look forward to the future", while paving the way for the friendship from generation to generation between the two countries. In the international situation featuring fierce competition, China and Japan have broad common interests that are embodied not only in the economic aspect, but also in the aspects of politics, security as well as international affairs.

Wu Dawei expressed his hope that friends from the journalist communities of the two countries can view China-Japan relations from a long-term and overall perspective, undertake historical responsibilities, carry on the past and open a way for future and play a constructive role, so as to make new contributions to pushing for bilateral relations towards sound development.

In his speech, Yoshio Nomoto said that over the past 40 years Japan-China ties have achieved tangible progress in every aspect. Interdependence between the two countries in the economic and trade area is increasingly deepened and the two sides have conducted active cooperation for world peace and stability and the development of East Asia. With bilateral ties becoming closer and closer, some issues are gradually emerging and there is a pressing need fro the two sides to deepen mutual understanding. In this regard, the media of the two countries shoulder important responsibilities and should reflect bilateral relations comprehensively and accurately.

After that, The first Chinese journalist to Japan Liu Deyou and the first Japanese journalist to China Dayue Xingfu delivered their speeches. The two senior journalists reviewed the working and living conditions in those days when they were permanently stationed abroad and recalled the tortuous development process of China-Japan relations. They are worried about the fact that the understanding and trust between the two peoples is unable to synchronize with increasingly enhanced bilateral ties and hope that the young generations of journalists in the two countries can do more things conducive to the China-Japan friendship through positive and objective coverage, in a bid to promote understanding and trust between the two sides.

The participants from China and Japan also held heated discussions and full communication on the status quo and prospect of bilateral ties, achievements and existing issues in covering China-Japan relations by the media of the two countries, standards and approaches of objectively reporting on China-Japan ties, enhancing friendly exchanges between the journalist communities of the two countries and obligations and tasks of permanent journalists, indicating that they should cherish the hard-won situation of China-Japan relations. They hope bilateral ties can be continuously improved and developed and would like to strengthen mutual coverage and make concerted efforts to promote China-Japan friendship.