Chinese Army Officers’ Study Group Visits Japan

Text of report by Wu Gufeng, carried by official Chinese news agency Xinhua (New China News Agency)

Tokyo, 22 August: Japan’s Sasagawa Japan-China Friendship Foundation held a reception in Tokyo on the evening of 22 August to welcome the visit to Japan by the fifth further studies group of middle-aged and young military officers of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army [PLA].

In his speech at the reception, Ogata Taketoshi, chairman of the Japan Consortium, extended a warm welcome to the visit to Japan by the PLA further studies group, and expressed the hope that the group, through exchanges with the Japanese Self-defence Force and people of other circles, will further deepen understanding of Japan.

The Chinese PLA further studies group arrived in Japan on 21 August. During its two-week stay in Japan, in addition to its exchange with officers of the Japanese Self-Defence Force, the group will visit bases and defence facilities of the Japanese Self- Defence Force and view a live-fire exercise of the land-based Self- Defence Force.

Through arrangements by Japan’s Sasagawa Japan-China Friendship Foundation since 2001, the Chinese PLA and the Japanese Self- Defence Force have sent further studies groups of middle-aged and young military officers to visit each other in order to step up military exchanges between the two countries.