新時期中日友好城市交流蓬勃發(fā)展

今年是中日兩國開展友城交流43周年。在中日兩國實現邦交正常化的翌年，1973年6月24日，中國天津市與日本神戶市締結為友好城市，從而誕生了中國與日本，也是中國與外國間的第一對友好城市。從此，中日兩國友城交流揭開了蓬勃發(fā)展的新篇章。

40多年來，友城交流作為中日兩國地方交往的重要渠道和平臺，在諸多領域取得長足發(fā)展，不僅為我國其后與世界其他國家開展地方交流發(fā)揮了先導性、示范性作用，也為促進雙方地方經濟社會發(fā)展，推動中日友好合作不斷拓展，加深兩國人民友誼，維護中日友好大局發(fā)揮了特殊作用,成為中日關系中不可或缺的重要組成部分。

當前，隨著中日關系及兩國各自國情發(fā)生深刻變化，中日友城交流在面臨復雜多變形勢和新的課題的同時，也迎來新的發(fā)展機遇，呈現出新的特點。

2012 年4 月，首屆中日省長知事論壇在東京召開。

新時期中日友城交流特點

中日友城交流覆蓋面廣、活躍度高、成果顯著。截至目前，中日兩國間共締結友城250對，位列中國與世界各國締結友城數量之最。我國除貴州、青海、西藏外，其他省、自治區(qū)和直轄市都有與日結好的城市，日本與中方結好城市則遍及所有47個都道府縣。根據中國人民對外友好協(xié)會（以下簡稱“全國友協(xié)”）2013年面向中日友城的問卷調查結果顯示，約52%的中方友城認為對日友城交流與其他國家友城相比更加活躍，30%認為基本相當。雙方友城結合自身特點，在經貿、文化、教育、體育、觀光、環(huán)保、醫(yī)療、養(yǎng)老、青少年等廣泛領域開展多層次的友好交流與務實合作，有效推動了各自經濟社會發(fā)展，造福了雙方人民。

中日友城交流為兩國關系改善發(fā)揮了先導作用。近年來，因為眾所周知的原因，中日關系一度陷入兩國邦交正?；詠碜罾щy局面，雙方各領域交流均受到不同程度負面影響。面臨此情況，中日絕大多數友城間仍能保持交流合作。日本長野縣、長崎縣、北海道、東京都、靜岡縣、神奈川縣、福岡縣、鹿兒島縣、熊本縣、香川縣等多位知事及市長率團訪華，中方多個省市的代表團亦應日方友城邀請訪日。兩國友城還積極參加由全國友協(xié)主辦的中國國際友好城市大會、中日省長知事論壇、中日韓友好城市交流大會等地方機制性交流活動。地方交流以其民間性、務實性及延續(xù)性的特點，有效緩沖了中日緊張的政治氣氛，成為中日關系“寒冬”中的一抹暖色。

2012 年8 月，中日友好交流城市初中生乒乓球友誼比賽大會在北京開幕。

中日友城交流日益趨向務實。中日友城交流日益趨向務實，由以往的人文交流為主，逐漸呈現出人文交流、經貿合作“雙管齊下”的新特點。當前中國的新型城鎮(zhèn)化建設和經濟結構的轉型升級，為中日地方政府的合作提供了廣闊的空間。中日友城在很多領域存在著“契合點”，互補性強，合作潛力大。近年來，中方友城更加活躍地“走出去”。2015年至今，包括河北省、山東省、江蘇省省長在內的中方近40批省級代表團訪日，通過舉辦經貿洽談會、旅游推介會等形式，與日方對口友城開展務實交流，就深化在奧運會、醫(yī)療養(yǎng)老、旅游觀光、環(huán)境保護等領域的合作達成一系列協(xié)議，取得豐碩成果。日方友城也積極順應時代發(fā)展變化，在“走出去”的同時，主動“請進來”，通過推廣“MIJBC”（日本制造、中國品牌）等項目，吸引中方友城企業(yè)前往投資，吸引中國民眾赴日觀光，推動農、漁業(yè)產品對華出口。友城交流在實現中日合作雙贏，普惠民眾方面發(fā)揮了積極的示范作用。

中日友城交流合作平臺

長期以來，全國友協(xié)與日本地方政府組織及多數都道府縣地方自治體保持著密切往來，與日本自治體國際化協(xié)會、日本全國市長會和全國知事會等已成功搭建起推動中日友城交流合作的多個平臺。1999年起，全國友協(xié)與日本自治體國際化協(xié)會及韓國市道知事協(xié)議會共同主辦中日韓友好城市交流大會，迄今已成功舉辦了18屆。大會每年在中日韓3國輪流舉辦，以友城交流合作為主線，尋求地方共同發(fā)展的新途徑。

2012年4月，全國友協(xié)與日本全國知事會在中日省長知事定期互訪機制的基礎上，在東京舉辦了首屆中日省長知事論壇。中方5位省級領導，日方10位知事、副知事參加論壇。期間簽署合作協(xié)議，協(xié)議金額達2億多美元。2014年10月，第二屆中日省長知事論壇在北京舉辦，中方7位省級領導，日方6位知事、副知事參加。兩國地方政府首腦就節(jié)能環(huán)保、旅游觀光、新能源開發(fā)、青少年交流、產業(yè)合作等共同關心的話題深入交換意見，達成廣泛共識。

全國友協(xié)與日本全國市長會交往歷史悠久，早在1974年，全國友協(xié)就接待了第一個日本全國市長會代表團。自1980年起，全國友協(xié)與日本全國市長會定期組派市長代表團互訪，迄今已各有13次中日市長代表團互訪。通過互訪，兩國市長加深了對對方經濟社會發(fā)展的全面、客觀認識，增進了相互理解，為雙方深化交流合作奠定了基礎。

中日友城交流的展望

中日友城交流雖然成果顯著，但也存在著一定的問題。根據全國友協(xié)2013年問卷調查結果顯示，主要存在以下問題：中日友城交流“東強西弱”的局面沒有得到根本改變。我國西部地區(qū)由于交通不便、資金缺乏、外語人才短缺等種種原因，對日交流少，有的即使簽訂了友城締結協(xié)議，也難開展實質交流；由于友城結好數量總量趨于飽和，加上政治因素等原因，近年一些城市結好意愿不強；長期以來，通過中日雙方的共同努力，兩國友城間的各項交流機制已逐步建立，為增進雙方相互理解，推動交流合作發(fā)揮了重要作用。另一方面，伴隨中日友城合作需求的不斷擴大，兩國友城需要更廣泛的交流溝通平臺，以全面、及時掌握各種信息，充分整合優(yōu)勢資源，取長補短，增強友城交流合作的針對性和實效性。

為更好地推動中日友城工作的發(fā)展，我們應各自行動和集體合力，繼續(xù)在以下方面努力：

加強民間和草根交流，厚植友誼。國之交在于民相親。習近平主席去年5月出席中日友好交流大會時強調，中日友好的根基在民間，中日關系前途掌握在兩國人民手里。當前，中日關系雖有一定改善，但改善勢頭仍很脆弱，面臨一些復雜因素。友城交流作為中日關系的重要組成部分，具有面向基層、形式靈活多樣等特點。因此，越是在兩國關系困難的時候，越應充分發(fā)揮中日友城交流的特點和優(yōu)勢，大力開展兩國基層交流，特別是要重點推進肩負兩國友好未來的青少年交流，不斷增進兩國人民的相互理解，切實改善雙方國民感情，培養(yǎng)兩國友好的接班人，推動中日關系持續(xù)改善發(fā)展。

堅持互利共贏，打造中日友城交流新亮點。中日友城交流應堅持互利共贏，加強務實合作，不斷擴大交流規(guī)模，提升交流層次，使友好交流動力源源不竭。要根據雙方的現實需求，順應國家發(fā)展方向和時代潮流，在節(jié)能環(huán)保、城市建設、旅游觀光、社會福祉、防災減災等領域不斷挖掘新的互補優(yōu)勢，打造新的交流亮點，以實現中日友城交流合作的長期可持續(xù)發(fā)展。

2009 年5 月，第十二次中日友好交流會議在日本香川縣高松市舉行。

豐富交流機制，團結各界力量，夯實合作基礎。展望未來，今后中日雙方應繼續(xù)努力，構建多層次、寬領域、符合現實發(fā)展需要的交流合作機制，加強溝通，謀求共贏。中日地方政府也應充分認識到友城交往的重要性，積極發(fā)揮主導作用，團結各界力量，鼓勵民間交往，建立企業(yè)、社會團體、文化藝術等多種形式的對口交流渠道，不斷夯實擴大友城交往基礎，實現全面合作和共同發(fā)展。

推動東西部友城的平衡發(fā)展,積極打造友城新的增長極。“一帶一路”倡議為西部地區(qū)城市實現“走出去”提供了國際平臺。新絲綢之路經濟帶東連亞太經濟圈，西系發(fā)達的歐洲經濟圈，被認為是“世界上最長、最具發(fā)展?jié)摿Φ慕洕笞呃取?。將友城結好與互聯(lián)互通的區(qū)域合作結合，突出地域開放特色，拓展友城合作領域，實現區(qū)域經濟和社會進步同步發(fā)展。

今后，全國友協(xié)將繼續(xù)發(fā)揮中日友城交流的橋梁作用，與日本地方政府組織及各地方自治體一道，夯實雙邊平臺，借助多邊和國際合作平臺，攜手努力、開拓創(chuàng)新，推動兩國友城交流與合作繼續(xù)蓬勃發(fā)展，邁上新的臺階。

（全國友協(xié)日本工作部供稿、供圖）

This year mark the 43th anniversary of the Sino-Japanese friendship cities exchange. On 24th, June, 1973, the ensuing year of the normalization of diplomatic relation of Sino-Japanese, Tianjin, China and Kobe, Japan established friendship cities. And China and Japan became the fi rst friendship cities between China and foreign countries. Since then, the Sino-Japanese friendship cities exchange opened a new chapter in prosperous development.

Over the past 40 years, as a major channel and platform for local exchanges between China and Japan, friendship cities exchange has made great progress in many fields. It not only plays a leading and exemplary role in local exchanges between China and other countries around the world, but also plays a special part in promoting the bilateral economic and social development, promoting the constant expansions of Sino-Japanese friendship and cooperation, deepening the friendship between the people in both countries and safeguarding the overall situation of Sino-Japanese friendship, which has become an indispensable and important part of Sino-Japanese relations.

At present, with the profound changes in Sino-Japanese relations and their respective national conditions, the Sino-Japanese friendship cities exchange also ushers a new development opportunity and presents new features while facing complex and ever-changing situation and new issues.

The Sino-Japanese Friendship Cities Exchange Features in the New Period

The Sino-Japanese friendship cities Exchange has wide coverage, high vitality and remarkable achievements.Up to now, there has established 250 pairs of friendship cities between China and Japan, ranking the most in quantity when comparing with the amount of friendship cities between China and other countries in the world. In China, apart from Guizhou, Qinghai and Tibet, other provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities all have friendship cities with Japan. And in Japan, the friendship cities with China spread all the 47 prefectures. According to the survey findings conducted by the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (hereinafter referred to as the "Chinese Friendship Association") in 2013 for the Sino-Japanese friendship city, about 52% of the Chinese friendship cities think that the exchange between China and Japan is more active than the exchange between China and other countries, and 30% of the Chinese friendship cities consider it almost equal. Combined with their own features, the bilateral friendship cities have carried out multi-layered friendship exchange and pragmatic cooperation in the wide range of fi elds, such as economy and trade, culture, education, sports, tourism, environmental protection, medical care, pension and youth, etc, promoting their respective economic and social development effectively.

The Sino-Japanese friendship city exchange have played a leading role in improving the relations between the two countries.In recent years, because of the well-known reasons, Sino-Japanese relations once fell into the most diffi cult situation since the normalization of diplomatic relations between the two countries, and the bilateral exchange in various fi elds was subject to different degrees of negative impact. Faced with this situation, the vast majority of Sino-Japanese friendship cities can still maintain exchange and cooperation. Many governors and mayors of Nagano-ken, Nagasaki-ken, Hokkaido, Tokyo, Shizuoka-ken, Kanagawa-ken, Fukuoka-ken, Kagoshima-ken, Kumamoto-ken and Kagawa-ken of Japan lead a delegation to visit China. And the delegations of many provinces of China also visit Japan at the invitation of Japanese friendship cities. The friendship cities of the two countries also take an active part in local institutional exchange activities, such as China International Friendship Cities Conference, Sino-Japanese Governor-General Governor Forum and Sino-Japan-Korea Friendship Cities Exchange Conference organized by the Chinese Friendship Association. With the features of folk nature, practicality, and continuity, local exchange has buffered the tension in the political atmosphere of China and Japan effectively, becoming a touch of warm color of Sino-Japanese relations in the "cold winter".

The Sino-Japanese friendship cities exchange becomes pragmatic increasingly.Based on the previous people-to-peopleexchange, the Sino-Japanese friendship cities exchange becomes pragmatic increasingly and emerges the new features of "two-pronged approach" of people-to-people exchange and economic and trade cooperation. At present, China's new urbanization construction and the transformation and upgrading of economic structure have provided a broad space for the cooperation of local governments in China and Japan. There exists “meeting point” in many fi elds for Sino-Japanese friendship cities. They have high complementarity and cooperation potential. In recent years, the Chinese friendship cities are more active in "going global". From 2015 till now, nearly 40 batches of provincial delegations, including the provincial governors from Hebei, Shandong and Jiangsu Provinces have visited Japan and conducted pragmatic exchanges with Japanese counterparts friendship cities through the form of holding economic and trade fairs and tourism promotion meetings, reaching a series of agreements on deepening the cooperation in the fields of Olympic games, medical care, tourism and environmental protection, which have made fruitful achievements. Conforming to the development and changes of the times actively and at the same time of "going global", Japanese friendship cities take the initiative of "please coming in" and promote the "MIJBC" (Made in Japan, Chinese brands) and other projects to attract the enterprises of Chinese friendship cities to invest and attract Chinese people to go sightseeing, promoting the exports of agriculture and fishery products to China. Friendship cities exchanges play a positive demonstration role in the realization of win-win situation in Sino-Japanese cooperation and wide privilege for the common people.

The Cooperation Platform of Sino - Japanese Friendship Cities Exchange

Over the years, the Chinese Friendship Association have maintained close contacts with the Japanese local government organizations and most of local autonomous and have successfully set up multiple platforms to promote Sino-Japanese friendship cities exchange and cooperation with the Japanese Autonomous Regional International Association, the National Mayor Meeting of Japan and the National Governors Meeting. Since 1999, the Chinese Friendship Association, the Japanese Autonomous Regional International Association and the Governor of South Korean National Association Agreement have jointly organized Sino-Japan-Korea Friendship Cities Exchange Conference, which has been successfully held for 18 sessions.

The General Assembly is held in turn in the three countries: China, Japan and South Korea, taking the exchange and cooperation of friendship cities as the main line, seeking the new approach of the common development of the three countries.

In April 2012, based on the regular exchange visits mechanism between the governor of Japan and China, the Chinese Friendship Association and the National Governors’ Association of Japan held the First Sino-Japanese Governor Forum in Tokyo. Five provincial leaders of China and 10 governors and deputy governors of Japan participated in the forum. During the forum, they sighed the cooperation agreements, which amounted to more than 200 million dollars. In October 2014, the Second Sino-Japanese Governor Forum was held in Beijing. And seven Chinese provincial leaders and six Japanese governors and deputy governors participated. The government leaders of the two countries exchanged views in depth on the topics of common interest such as energy conservation and environmental protection, tourism, new energy development, youth exchanges, and industrial cooperation, and reached broad consensus.

The Chinese Friendship Association has a long exchange history with the National Mayor Meeting of Japan. In the early 1974, the Chinese Friendship Association gave a reception of the fi rst delegation of the National Mayor Meeting of Japan. Since 1980, Chinese Friendship Association and National Mayor Meeting of Japan have arranged the delegation of mayors to have a regular visits. So far, 13 delegations of Chinese and Japanese mayors have visited each other. Through mutual visits, the mayors of the two countries deepened their overall and objective understanding of each other’s economic and social development and enhanced their mutual understanding, laying a foundation for deepening exchanges and cooperation.

Prospects of Sino - Japanese Friendship Cities Exchange

Although having gotten remarkable achievements, Sino-Japanese friendship cities exchange still has certain problems. The results of the questionnaire survey conducted by the Chinese Friendship Association in 2013 showed that: The situation of “strong east and weak west” in the Sino-Japanese friendship cities exchange was not fundamentally changed. Due to traffic inconvenience, lack of funds, the shortage of foreign language talent and other reasons, China's western region has less exchange with Japan. Even though some cities sighed the establishment agreement of friendship cities, it is diffi cult to carry out substantive exchanges.As the total quantity of friendship cities has turned into saturation, coupled with political factors, some cities don’t have high willingness to be tied in friendshipcities in recent years.For a long time, through the joint efforts of China and Japan, the various exchange mechanisms between the friendship cities of two countries have been established and played an important role in enhancing mutual understanding and promoting exchange and cooperation. On the other hand, with the unceasing expansion of demand for cooperation of Sino-Japanese friendship cities, these cities need a more extensive exchange platform, grasping all kinds of information comprehensively and timely, integrating the advantages of resources fully, learning from the strong points to offset the weakness and enhancing the pertinence and effectiveness of exchange and cooperation of friendship cities.

In order to promote the development of Sino-Japanese friendship cities better, we should, individually and collectively, continue to make efforts in the following areas:

Strengthen the exchange of folk and grassroots and enhance friendship.The relationship between countries is based on the affection of civilians in each country. Last May, President Xi attended Sino-Japanese Friendship Exchange Meeting and stressed that the foundation of Sino-Japanese friendship lied in the folk, and the future of Sino-Japanese relations lied in the hands of Chinese and Japanese. At present, Sino-Japanese relations have improved, but the momentum for improvement remains fragile and faces some complicated factors. As an important part of the Sino-Japanese relations, the friendship cities exchanges have the characteristics of being grassroots oriented and being flexible in form. Therefore, the more diffi cult the relationship between the two countries is, the more characteristics and advantages of Sino-Japanese friendship cities exchanges should be exerted fully. Carry out the grassroots and grass-roots exchanges energetically, especially focusing on promoting the exchanges of youth who bear the responsibility of friendship future between two countries. Enhance mutual understanding between Chinese and Japanese constantly, improve the national feelings of two countries practically, foster a friendly successor of the two countries, and promote the continuous improvement and development of Sino-Japanese relations.

Adhere to mutual benefit and win-win situation and create a new bright spot in the Sino-Japanese friendship.Sino-Japanese Friendship City exchanges should adhere to mutual benefi t and win-win situation, strengthen pragmatic cooperation, expand exchanges scale and elevate exchanges level constantly, making the impetus of friendship exchanges inexhaustible. In accordance with the actual demand of both sides and conforming to the direction of national development and the times trend, new complementary advantages should be excavated constantly and new exchange highlight should be created in the fi eld of energy conservation and environmental protection, urban construction, tourism, social welfare, prevention and conduction of natural disasters, achieving long-term sustainable development of Sino-Japanese exchanges and cooperation.

Enrich exchange mechanism, unite all walks of forces and consolidate cooperation foundation.Looking into the future, China and Japan should continue their efforts, establish the exchange and cooperation mechanism that is multi-level, wideranging and in line with the demand of realistic development, strengthen communication and seek win-win situation. The local governments of China and Japan should also fully understand the importance of the exchange of friendship cities, play a leading role actively in unifying all walks of force, encouraging non-governmental exchanges and establishing the counterpart exchange channels for business, social organizations and culture and art, and consolidate and expand the exchanges of friendship cities, achieving comprehensive cooperation and common development.

Promote the balanced development of the friendship cities in the east and west, and create a new growth pole of friendship cities actively."The Belt and Road" initiative provides an international platform for the realization of "going global" in the western regions and cities. Linking Asia-Pacific economic circle in the east and developed European economic circle in the west, the new Silk Road Economic Zone is considered as "the world's longest and most promising economic corridor." It combines the exchange of friendship cities with the interconnection of regional cooperation, highlights the characteristics of regional openness, expands the fields of friendship cities cooperation, achieving the development of regional economic and social progress simultaneously.

Henceforth, the Chinese Friendship Association will continue to play the bridge role in the exchange of Sino-Japanese friendship cities with local governments organization and local autonomous regions of Japan, consolidate bilateral platforms with the help of multilateral and international cooperation platform, work together and innovate, promoting the prosperous development in the exchange and cooperation of Sino-Japanese friendship cities into a new level.

（Provided by The Japanese Department of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries）

The New Development of Sino-Japanese Friendship Cities Exchange and Construction in the New Era