[Commentary] The China-Japan Friendship City Youth Talking Homeland event with the theme of "Friendship Cities Sharing the Future" was held in Wuhan on July 15.
Hubei Province and Nagasaki County, Wuhan and Oita City, Xiangyang and Inuyama City, Jingzhou and Aizuwakamatsu City, Ezhou and Sanjo City, a total of five pairs of youths from Sino-Japanese sister cities started "cloud mutual visits" to review the stories of a strip of water.
[Explanation] This event was hosted by the Hubei Provincial People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries. It is one of the online "virtual mutual visits" series of activities organized by the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries.
[Explanation] 2022 is the 50th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan.
Zhang Xiaomei, director of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Hubei Provincial Party Committee and president of the Hubei Friendship Association, said that people-to-people friendship and sister-city exchanges are a fine tradition of good neighborliness between China and Japan, as well as an important foundation and source of strength to promote the development of China-Japan relations.
[Concurrent] Zhang Xiaomei, director of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Hubei Provincial Party Committee and director of the Hubei Friendship Association
The friendly exchange activities participated by the young friends of the five pairs of Sino-Japanese sister cities is a positive attempt to promote the high-quality development of Sino-Japanese sister city cooperation and enhance the understanding and friendship between the youths of the two countries.
Inheriting the mission of China-Japan friendship, we always believe that people-to-people friendship and friendship-city exchanges are a fine tradition of good neighborliness between China and Japan.
It is also an important foundation and source of strength to promote the development of China-Japan relations.
We believe that the younger generations of both sides will continue to inherit the profound friendship forged by their ancestors, further deepen people-to-people and cultural exchanges, spread the seeds of China-Japan friendship to more people, and let it bear more fruitful results in China and Japan.
[Commentary] At the event site, Chinese and Japanese youth shared the friendship between sister cities through promotional videos and speeches.
The content covers various elements such as local customs, cultural relics and historic sites, urban appearance, and special snacks.
[Concurrent] Zhang Bowei, Youth Representative of Hubei Province
This is such an event to bring the distance between the youths of the two countries closer. Moreover, as I said just now, our youth are the future of a country and a nation, so the understanding of our youth now may affect the development of the two countries in the future. Destiny, so I think this is very important, and we see that there are many younger and more energetic teenagers behind them, they share their perspectives, and they are different, so I also hope that we The friendship between China and Japan can be passed down from generation to generation and continue to last.
[Explanation] Oita City and Wuhan City officially signed a contract in 1979 to become Wuhan's first international sister city.
Bai Yanming, a student from the junior high school of Wuhan Foreign Language School, said that the epidemic has hindered the offline exchanges between the two sides, but the online exchanges have not stopped.
She and her classmates selected Wuhan's landmark buildings such as Wuhan Tanhualin and Yellow Crane Tower, and planned to shoot short video works to show the characteristics of Wuhan city.
[Concurrent] Bai Yanming, a junior high school student at Wuhan Foreign Language School
Our teenagers are the future and the hope for the future. That's why we say that we need to enhance the communication between teenagers now, and we must have this awareness from an early age.
Reporter Zheng Ziyan reports from Wuhan, Hubei
Responsible editor: [Li Ji]