Dalian and Kitakyushu——Fine Example of Sino-Japanese Friendship-City Exchanges

A Sino-Japanese friendship-city relationship was established on May 1， 1979， by Dalian in Northeast China and the southern Japanese city of Kitakyushu that has flourished through the concerted efforts of both sides ever since. There have been frequent and fruitful exchanges between them in all fields including economy， trade， culture， education， health， sports， tourism， port logistics， environmental protection and water supply technology. All these activities have enjoyed popular support from local citizens. Wang Yi， the then Chinese Ambassador to Japan， used the term “a fine example of friendship-city exchanges between China and Japan” to praise the relationship.

I. Trade and Economic Exchanges Enhanced

The two cities， by opening up more channels to promote bilateral trade and economic exchanges， have created favorable conditions for win-win development.

1. Setting up offices in each other’s cities. The Japanese side set up the Kitakyushu Office of Economics and Cultural Exchange of Dalian in 1991. To meet the growing needs of bilateral trade and economic exchanges and provide more and timely information to enterprises in both cities， the city elevated the office’s functions to promoting trade and invigorating logistics and， in April 2005， changed its name to Kitakyushu Business Promotion Office in Dalian. Likewise， Dalian City set up the Dalian Economic and Trade Office in West Japan in Kitakyushu in 1996. The office works actively to promote trade and economic exchanges with Western Japan.

2. Working to Bring Japanese enterprises to the city. Dalian is committed to improving its investment environment and works to draw enterprises from Kitakyushu to the city. Up till now， 21 enterprises and businesses such as Toto Ltd.， Okano Valve MFG. Co.， Sankyu International Logistics Co.， Ltd.， Naigaibiso Co.， Ltd.， Ohishi Packaging Co.， Ltd.， Beijiu Machinery Co.， Ltd.， Tsurumaru-Power Logistics Co.， Ltd. and Environmental Technology Service Co.， Ltd.， involving manufacturing， transportation， communications， personnel exchanges and comprehensive consultancy services on the environment， have established themselves in Dalian and made contributions to the city’s economic and social development.

3. Setting up a showroom/shop. In May 2009， on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the twinning arrangement， Kitakyushu opened a commodity showroom/shop in Dalian to promote its economic and trade cooperation with it and with other Chinese cities. Apart from displaying food， general merchandise and other goods produced by the Kitakyushu enterprises and conducting business talks， there are 55 exhibition stands， showing 25 types of industrial products， 15 kinds of food and 15 sci-tech products for environment protection. Six enterprises have signed commission selling contracts with their Dalian partners while four others are negotiating.

4. Sending economic and trade delegations to trade exhibitions and trade fairs. The two cities have built a good platform for cooperation between enterprises by dispatching economic and trade delegations and holding investment presentations and trade talks.

5. Carrying out study and training projects. Kitakyushu brings into full play the role of the Council of Local Authorities for International Relations (CLAIR) in carrying out a Local Government Officials Training Program in Japan. The program also includes staff of relevant Dalian Municipal Government departments， who will spend six to ten months working in the economic and trade departments of the Kitakyushu City Government.

II. Varied Cultural， Educational， Health and Sports Exchanges

1. Setting up scholarships. In 1992， Kitakyushu set up the Sekihara Dalian International Students’ Scholarship for students of Japanese language who excel in their studies. Up to now， 360 students of Japanese majors from six universities in Dalian have received a total of 636，000 RMB in scholarships and 40 students from Dalian studying in Kitakyushu have been granted this scholarship with a total sum of 9.6 million Japanese yen.

2. Establishing friendship-school relations to enhance inter-school exchanges. The twinning of friendship-school ties between Dalian Yuhua Primary School and Kokurachuo Elementary School of Kitakyushu has promoted the exchanges between teachers and pupils.

3. Frequent cultural exchanges. Kitakyushu has invited Dalian art groups including the Jinzhou Farmers Orchestra， Acrobatic Troupe， Model Art School and Drama Troupe to perform and to take part in large-scale activities such as the Wasshoi Summer Festival， Exposition and Kitakyushu International Music Festivals. These exchanges have helped publicize traditional Chinese culture and brought the people of the two cities closer. The performance tours of Dalian made by the Kitakyushu Choral Society， the Kataribe Chorus of Kitakyushu Folk and School Songs， Seisyun-za Theatrical Troupe and other cultural groups have increased Dalian people’s understanding of the Japanese culture.

4. Sports exchanges. Dalian started to organize an International Marathon in 1987 and has now staged 24 races. Athletes from Kitakyushu participated in 18 of them with much success. Besides， Kitakyushu also invited the Dalian juvenile football team to take part in friendship match.

5. Medical exchanges. Several doctors and nurses from Dalian received on-the-job training in Kitakyushu. Such exchanges have enhanced the medical ties between the two cities and helped raise the technical level of treating heart and eye diseases in Dalian.

III. Fruitful Exchanges and Cooperation in Environmental Protection

Kitakyushu is a famous industrial city in Japan. It suffered serious pollution in its industrial development in the 1960s. With the concerted efforts made by the city government and people， it has overcome the industrial hazards and accumulated rich experience in pollution control and won international recognition. To further improve the environment and contribute to international efforts， Dalian and Kitakyushu， through inter-government exchanges， have vigorously carried out many cooperation projects with remarkable results.

1. Studies on the development of “Dalian Environmental Model Zone”—a Sino-Japanese technological cooperation project carried out between 1996 and 2000. Experts from Kitakyushu conducted on-the-spot investigations of every enterprise on Dalian’s list of serious polluters， determining the source of their pollutants and putting forward suggestions to control them. They filed a findings report on building the “Dalian Environmental Model Zone” and mapped out a 10-year plan for environment protection to lay a good foundation for improvement.

2. “Model City” program， a Sino-Japanese environment cooperation project， launched in 1997. With the help of Kitakyushu， Dalian obtained US$100 million in Japanese loans and 30 million RMB worth of precision analysis instruments such as air-monitoring cars and mobile stack emission monitoring laboratories donated by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The program gave priority to clean production and technical renovation of old enterprises as well as construction of urban environmental infrastructure， bringing the city’s air pollution under control.

3. On-the-job training program. Every year between 1998 and 2002， Kitakyushu received five senior environmental management personnel and factory directors from Dalian for on-the-job training， and， in 2007， it incorporated the program as an important part of the work of the Environmental Division of the East Asia Economic Development Organization. It has trained many professionals for Dalian.

4. Holding exhibitions and symposiums. By holding exhibitions and symposiums on environmental protection， the two cities have boosted inter-industry cooperation and provided a good platform for their enterprises to participate in international exchanges and cooperation.

5. Inter-city cooperation in environmental protection. In November 2004， Kitakyushu specially set up the Environment Division of the East AsiEconomic Development Organization and selected Dalian as a leading city of China. It sponsored the Dalian-Kitakyushu Energy Conservation Symposium， Japan-China International Resource Recycling Conference， etc.， and gathered and exchanged information on environmental protection of the ten Yellow-Sea rim cities， thus， vigorously promoting cooperation in this field.

Dalian’s environmental cooperation with Kitakyushu constitutes an important part of the city’s cooperation in this field with Japan. Such cooperation has brought a new look to Dalian and won international recognition. Recommended by Kitakyushu， Dalian was honored with the “Global 500 Award” from the United Nations Environment Program in 2001. And Koichi Sueyoshi， former Mayor of Kitakyushu， received the Friendship Award of China conferred by the State Administration of Foreign Experts in the same year. In 2008， Kitakyushu gave its “Kitakyushu Environmental Award” to Dalian， the first city outside Japan to receive such an honor. On November 1， 2009， the two cities signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation on the China-Japan Environmental City Project—Dalian Eco-Industrial Model Park (Venous Industry).

IV. Close Port Exchange

Both Kitakyushu and Dalian are major ports and they share a strategy to develop the local economy through the port industry. The ports and airports of the two cities have played a bridging role in expanding contacts and logistics cooperation.

1. Exchange and cooperation between ports. To strengthen exchanges and cooperation， the Port of Moji established friendship-port ties with the Port of Dalian in May 2008. Meetings are held every other year and personnel on work-study programs are exchanged. They also send people to take part in the twinning anniversary celebrations in each other’s cities. The containers handled between the two ports reached 26，387 TEU (2008 statistics)， taking up 14.5% of the total volume handled between Kitakyushu and China.

2. Airport exchange. The two cities make full use of the convenience of international airports to increase contact between their peoples by organizing charter flights for them to take part in relevant large-scale activities. Five such flights have been organized from 2000 to 2009.

V. Rich Results in Water Supply Technical Exchange

Dalian is one of the earliest cities in modern China to install a water-supply system. It is also a city facing a severe water shortage. To seek new sources of water and replace ageing installations are a major task of the city’s infrastructure construction. In 1999， the departments concerned in Dalian established links with the water-supply department in Kitakyushu. Through these exchanges， Dalian learned the advanced experience， which helped the city improve its water quality， expand its water supply coverage rate and ensure low-cost stable water distribution， thus meeting the needs of its urban economic development and people’s daily life.

1. Work-study student program. In the past decade， Kitakyushu has received 13 people from the Dalian Water Supply Co.， Ltd. on work-study programs. Such on-the-job training programs familiarize the students with Japan’s advanced technology and installations of water supply and enabled them to learn its experience in management. These people， using the knowledge they had learned， have contributed to upgrading the technology and raising the management level of Dalian’s water supply， which rank among the first in the country.

2. Sending specialists. Kitakyushu has successively sent more than 20 specialists to Dalian to conduct studies on water quality management， automation of water treatment works， construction and business management， water leakage detection， measuring control， etc. Dalian has benefited greatly from their research results. Among them， eight specialists have been honored successively with Xinghai Friendship Award granted by the Dalian Municipal Government for their work.

3. Introducing advanced equipment. The relevant departments in Kitakyushu enthusiastically recommended advanced water supply technology and equipment to Dalian and persuaded Japanese providers of water pump， motor， energy-saving and measuring equipment to sell their advanced equipment to Dalian at reasonable prices. The introduction of these technology and equipment has not only provided reference for Dalian in measuring and water quality control， construction management， leakage prevention， plant automation and purification management， but also raised the water supply security level of Dalian.

4. Expanding technical exchanges. Water supply enterprises in small cities under the jurisdiction of Dalian had many problems including low pipeline water supply coverage， high leakage， etc. that hampered the development of water supply in these cities. On May 24， 2009， Dalian Water Supply Co.， Ltd. signed a letter of intent on technical exchange with Kitakyushu City Waterworks Bureau and the Association of Water and Sewage Works Consultants Japan in which they determined the contents of future exchanges and expanded technical exchanges to water supply enterprises in the surrounding cities and counties of Dalian.

VI. Ever-Deepening Friendship Between the People of the Two Cities

Since the friendship-city ties began， the principal leaders of the legislative body and municipal government of Dalian and Kitakyushu have exchanged many visits and there has been a steady flow of tourists. Exchanges have been carried out between the port， agriculture， health， personnel， education， environment and water affairs bureaus of the two cities and links established between trade unions， youth and women federations， literary circles and other people’s organizations， and contacts conducted between friendship associations， cultural exchange associations， lawyers associations， etc. The contacts between the two cities have expanded from government level to ordinary citizens， from pure friendly exchanges to practical cooperation.

Time flies. The two cities greeted the 31st anniversary of their ties this year. Today， in Kitakyushu， one can see the Kitakyushu International Friendship Commemorative Library and Daihoku Pavilion built in imitation of the Dalian Art Exhibition Museum and a pavilion at the Laohutan Ocean Park respectively， as well as a square and an avenue named after Dalian， and the Acacia Restaurant; in Dalian， the Beida Bridge was built with the Kanmon Bridge in Kitakyushu as the model. These new landmarks have become symbols of the friendly relations between the two cities.