Japan, China vow to promote world economic recovery+

TOKYO, June 7 Kyodo - Japan and China pledged Sunday to promote recovery in the slumping world economy and called for an early conclusion to global trade liberalization negotiations, Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone and Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan said after a one-day economic ministerial meeting in Tokyo.

Asia's two economic giants issued 11 sets of documents highlighting bilateral
cooperation in areas such as environmental protection, energy saving,
agriculture, seismological science and technology, and assistance for
developing countries.
''In the current context of the grim challenges posed by the ever spreading
international financial crisis, it is necessary for China and Japan to
vigorously follow through the consensus of the G-20 (Group of 20) summit in
Washington and London, and adopt more effective measures so as to ensure
financial market stability while helping our respective national (economies)
and the global economy to resume growth,'' Wang said at a joint news conference
with Nakasone.
The G-20 leaders vowed at their April 2 summit in London to boost the world
economy by implementing fiscal expansion totaling $5 trillion to create
millions of jobs and raise global production 4 percent by the end of 2010.
In a memorandum signed Sunday by the two countries' trade ministers, Japan and
China agreed to establish for the first time a working group to consider
creating a legal framework and enforcing crackdowns to curb violations of
intellectual property rights.
At the high-level Japan-China economic dialogue, the two neighbors confirmed
that it is ''extremely important for their people's lives'' to ensure the
safety of food and products, according to Japan's Foreign Ministry.
Citing a sharp fall in Japanese food imports from China, Tokyo asked Beijing to
ensure an early settlement of a case involving tainted Chinese-made frozen
dumplings that made people sick in Japan, the ministry said.
Wang said the two countries ''emphasized the need for further efforts to remove
all kinds of barriers and of strengthening cooperation in the areas of trade in
technology, small and medium-sized enterprises, and product quality and food
safety.''
Japan voiced concern about Beijing's curbs on exports of rare metals, Nakasone
said. Japan also asked China to drop an envisaged compulsory certification
system for information technology products made by foreign companies, he said.
Meeting on the sidelines of the dialogue, Economy, Trade and Industry Minister
Toshihiro Nikai and Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming agreed the
intellectual property working group will meet once a year. Nikai asked that the
working group convene its first meeting by the end of the year.
A 2004 study by the Japan Patent Office estimated Japanese companies' losses in
China from pirated goods totaled around 9.3 trillion yen in terms of sales.
Referring to the envisaged compulsory certification system, which China says it
will introduce in May next year for public procurement of foreign-made items
such as computer security software, Nikai said he proposed that China refer
such cases to an international certification system.
Chen was quoted as telling Nikai that Beijing took note of Japan's high level
of interest in the issue.
Japan, the United States and Europe are concerned that the system would allow
Beijing to obtain otherwise secret information about such products.
Nikai and Chen also agreed to seek greater leadership from the United States on
advancing the Doha Round of trade liberalization talks under the World Trade
Organization, saying concluding the negotiations will benefit the
administration of President Barack Obama, according to the Japanese trade
chief.
The WTO talks -- the successful conclusion of which would give a boost to the
world economy -- have been stalled as developed and emerging economies remain
at odds over how to reduce trade barriers in core areas of agricultural and
manufactured goods.
In a memorandum on assistance for developing countries, the Japan Bank for
International Cooperation and the Export-Import Bank of China agreed to
consider extending loans to Japanese and Chinese companies in the event that
they launch infrastructure and other projects in developing countries.
The high-level economic dialogue was the second of its kind following the first
session in Beijing in December 2007. The two sides agreed to hold the third
such talks next year in China.
The G-20 consists of the Group of Seven industrialized countries -- Britain,
Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States -- plus Argentina,
Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South
Africa, South Korea, Turkey and the European Union.