Chronologies
Japan - China
Chronology from Mar 2008 to Jul 2008
: Japanese and Chinese artists living in Japan hold concert in Tokyo to raise funds for victims of Sichuan earthquake.
: Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs changes name of China Division to China and Mongolia Division.
: MSDF destroyer Sazanami arrives in Zhanjiang, Guangdong Province, China.
: Head of Japanese Coast Guard regional headquarters in Okinawa hands formal letter of apology to captain of Taiwanese fishing boat sunk in June 10 incident.
: MSDF destroyer Sazanami departs Kure, Japan for China port call.
: Japan and China agree on joint development plan for East China Sea.
: Taiwan’s President Ma asserts Taiwanese claim to Senkaku Islands; calls for peaceful resolution of June 10 incident.
: President Ma announces acceptance of resignation of representative heading Taipei’s Economic and Cultural Affairs Office in Japan.
: PM Fukuda calls for self-restraint in Japan and Taiwan with respect to June 10 sinking of Taiwanese fishing boat.
: Japan, China, and South Korea foreign ministers meet in Tokyo.
: Taiwanese fishing boat sinks after collision with Japanese Coast Guard ship near disputed Diaoyutai/Senkaku Islands.
: PM Fukuda tells Upper House Budget Committee that resolving the East China Sea dispute is a problem of time.
: LDP-New Komeito delegation accompanies delivery of relief supplies to Sichuan Province.
: Xinhua News Service attributes deaths of three residents of Qiqihar, Heilongjiang Province to leak of poison gas from chemical weapons abandoned by the Imperial Army.
: Sankei Shimbun reports that Ministry of Defense and U.S. intelligence sources reveal “with high probability” that Chinese Navy submarine test-fired SLBM in Yellow Sea.
: Chinese Foreign Ministry announces Maritime Self Defense Force ship will visit China during the month.
: Former Chinese Ambassador to Japan Wang Yi becomes Director of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office.
: Chinese Ambassador Cui appears on TV Asahi “Sunday Project.” Speaking through an interpreter Cui expresses appreciation for Japan’s emergency assistance. In a reference to not using ASDF aircraft, he explains that both governments had agreed to providing assistance in a manner conducive to the Chinese people.
: Tokyo municipal government reverses practice established in 1987 and allows Taiwanese residing in Tokyo to register place origin as Taiwan rather than China.
: Japanese medical team departs for China to assist earthquake victims.
: PM Fukuda calls for cooperation among countries of the Asia-Pacific region; highlights importance of China’s stable development.
: Tokyo High Court upholds ¥4 million defamation ruling against Japanese publisher for alleging female survivor of Nanjing Massacre was an impostor.
: Diet enacts law allowing use of outer space for defense purposes.
: Seventy-five member Japanese delegation, including Tokyo governor Ishihara Shintaro and 30 Diet members, attends inauguration of Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou.
: Chinese embassy in Tokyo opens for earthquake mourners as part of China’s three days observance.
: Chinese Ambassador to Japan Cui Tiankai expresses thanks for Japanese earthquake assistance.
: Japan and China sign treaty allowing for exchange of information and evidence in criminal cases.
: Beijing announces that it will accept emergency assistance from Japan; emergency rescue team departs for China; second team follows on May 16.
: China experiences 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Sichuan Province.
: President Hu visits Japan and meets PM Fukuda. The two issue joint statement on “Comprehensively Promoting a Strategic Mutually Beneficial Relationship.”
: Waseda University and Beijing University agree to set up joint graduate program in environmental and sustainable development studies.
: ASEAN Finance Ministers, plus Japan, China, and South Korea meet in Madrid to discuss financial cooperation; agree to $80 billion currency swap arrangement.
: Movie Yasukuni opens in Tokyo.
: Japanese Foreign Ministry releases survey of six ASEAN countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam) that rank China ahead of Japan as their most important partner by a margin of 30 percent to 28 percent.
: Hyogo prefectural police report pesticide found in frozen Chinese gyoza.
: Former PM Nakasone visits Beijing and meets President Hu.
: Japan-China-South Korea eminent persons group meets in Beijing; issues call for FTA negotiations and financial and monetary cooperation.
: Olympic torch passes safely through Nagano.
: Foreign Minister Komura welcomes China’s decision to open dialogue with representatives of the Dalai Lama.
: Former Prime Minister Nakasone’s Japan Institute for International Policy Studies releases report on Japan-China relations.
: Japanese Foreign Ministry announces President Hu will visit beginning May 6.
: Sixty-two Diet members visit Yasukuni Shrine on occasion of Spring Festival.
: Zenkoji temple in Nagano is vandalized after refusing to serve as starting point for Olympic torch relay.
: China’s Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi visits Japan and meets PM Fukuda to advance Hu visit.
: LDP Secretary General Ibuki Bumnei and New Komeito Secretary General Kitagawa Kazuo visit China, meet President Hu, and urge peaceful resolution of unrest in Tibet.
: Environment Minister Kamoshita Ichiro eats with Chinese counterpart in Beijing.
: Vice Minister Yabunaka meets counterpart Wang Yi in Beijing; discussions center on Hu visit to Japan, Tibet, gyoza, and East China Sea.
: Democratic Party of Japan (DJP) Secretary General Hatoyama Yukio in Hiroshima speech calls on China to open dialogue with Dalai Lama.
: Prime Minister Fukuda Yasuo tells Foreign Policy Study Group that he wants to see Japan increase its ODA budget.
: Development ministers of emerging donor countries including China meet in Tokyo.
: Japanese government announces that Imperial Family will not attend opening ceremony of Beijing Olympics.
: Japan’s Mass Media Information and Cultural Union protests political pressure on theaters to cancel showing of the movie Yasukuni directed by Li Ying.
: Vice Minister of Defense Masuda Kohei visits Beijing.
: Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao pays a working visit to Laos and takes part in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Summit in Vientiane. Wen meets Lao President Choummaly Saygnasone to discuss closer cooperation in the economic sector.
: Wu Hongbo, Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister, visits Brunei to attend the 14th China-ASEAN Senior Officials’ Consultation. The meeting seeks to implement the consensus reached at the 2007 summit held between both sides and strengthen their strategic partnership. Additionally, the meeting provides a platform to further exchange views on jointly implementing follow-up actions to the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea.
: Japan’s National Institute for Defense Studies releases East Asia Strategic Review 2008.
: Finance Ministers Nukaga and Xie meet in Tokyo to discuss regional and global issues and bilateral cooperation.
: Qin Guangrong, governor of Yunnan province, presides over the opening ceremony of the new trans-national highway linking Kunming city in southwest Yunnan to Bangkok, cutting total travel time by half to approximately 20 hours. Xinhua News reports that nearly $400 billion worth of cargo will be transported each year via this new linkage between China, the Greater Mekong area, and Southeast Asia.
: PM Fukuda expresses concern over developments in Tibet and his hope that Beijing and the demonstrators will conduct themselves in a calm and appropriate manner.
: Vice FM Yabunaka, addressing unrest in Tibet and Hu visit, says riots have little do to with the Hu visit.
: Ministry of Defense Director of Defense Policy Bureau Takamizawa Nobushige discusses Taiwan contingency with LDP’s Security Research Council.
: The Chinese Academy of Military Science holds senior level gathering of military officials and scholars from Southeast Asia to discuss current trends in military modernization, regional security issues, and confidence-building measures.
: Cabinet Liaison Conference on food safety meets in Tokyo as reports circulate of China’s failure to provide requested information and documentation regarding the gyoza issue.
: Malaysia’s Public Bank announces the launch of the PB China-ASEAN Equity Fund (PBCAEF), which will invest in Chinese stocks listed in China, Hong Kong, the U.S., and other approved markets to capitalize on rapid economic growth in China and Southeast Asian countries.
: China’s National People’s Congress opens in Beijing. Premier Wen’s work report touched on issues related to food safety.
: China releases $45 billion 2008 defense budget.
: The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs hosts the 9th China-ASEAN Joint Cooperation Committee in Chongqing. Senior officials from the ASEAN secretariat and member states as well as representatives from 11 governmental ministries in China attend.
: Fukuda Cabinet adopts basic plan on ocean policy.
: Visit of China’s Director of the General Administration of Quality, Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine is postponed.