Sasakawa Japan-China Friendship Fund

To promote permanent peace and mutual understanding between China and Japan.

The Sasakawa Japan-China Friendship Fund was established in December 1989 with the objective of promoting permanent peace and mutual understanding between China and Japan. The fund was established as one arm of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation with support from The Nippon Foundation. Inspiration for the fund came from the founder of The Nippon Foundation, the late Ryoichi Sasakawa, who was dedicated to the search for lasting world peace. As of 2007, the fund had provided 2.4 billion yen in aid through 270 projects. Up to that point, 5,677 Japanese citizens and 17,270 Chinese citizens had participated in the fund's projects, in fields spanning personnel invitation & dispatch, capacity building, and hosting of seminars and symposiums. The fund has conducted projects aimed at resolving issues in China-Japan relations under the basic policy of promoting HR development, mutual understanding, social proposals and dissemination of information.

Our activities over the years have been conducted in five main areas:Support for Japanese language learning for Chinese citizens The aim of this project is to provide opportunities for language training and language learning over a one-month period in Japan to students studying the Japanese language at regional universities in Northwest and Southwest China and in other regions that have little chance for exchange with Japan. In 2012 the budget for this programme alone was 18,500,000yen.Development of Chinese leaders Over the three year period since 2009, SPF has been conducting a project to host open symposiums and closed dialogues on the theme of Japan-China bilateral financial cooperation, inviting practitioners active in the fiscal and monetary fields from Japan and China.Creation of knowledge networks and Promoting networking in the security field Based on its experiences of providing such opportunities for future leaders in the fields of exchange in the fiscal and monetary fields, the Fund will in this project use networks developed to date to send practitioners from financial ministries and departments in Japan to China, and vice versa.

Support for social reform in China China and Japan are faced with many of the same challenges - the environment, disaster prevention, population aging, taxation and social security, to name but a few. By working together closely to overcome these challenges, the two countries can gain valuable opportunities to build a more trusting and positive relationship. The Fund tries to promote cooperation in social and economic areas by arranging the transfer of know-how and experience from Japan to China, an approach that has proved highly successful in the past. This type of support allows the two countries to pool their resources and work together to achieve solutions to common problems.