President of the Japan Forum on International Relations Visits Grandview Institution

On the afternoon of September 17, Mayu Watanabe, President of the Japan Forum on International Relations (JFIR), led a delegation to visit the Grandview Institution. The two sides held in-depth discussions with Ren Libo, President of Grandview, on topics including China–Japan relations and the establishment of multilateral exchange mechanisms between the two countries.

As a long-established and highly influential non-profit think tank in Japan, the Japan Forum on International Relations shares many similarities with Grandview Institution in terms of organizational structure, personnel composition, and research focus. Both sides agreed that independent think tanks can make full use of their advantages in independence, flexibility, and continuity. They reached a consensus on jointly building a sustainable annual Track 2 or Track 1.5 dialogue mechanism on “China–Japan Relations” or a “China–Japan+X” multilateral dialogue platform.

Also attending the meeting were Yona Kikuchi, Executive Director of the JFIR Secretariat, and representatives from Grandview’s Department of External Cooperation.

Founded in 1987, the Japan Forum on International Relations (JFIR) is one of Japan’s leading comprehensive policy research and consulting organizations. It enjoys an authoritative position in the fields of political diplomacy, security and defense, and international relations. The Forum consists of several key divisions, including Policy Studies, Policy Proposals, Research Centers, and the Secretariat, and brings together a large number of experts and researchers from the government, parliament, defense, and corporate sectors.

In recent years, JFIR has focused on the dynamics of major-power competition between China and the United States, strengthening its regional and country-specific research. It maintains close communication channels with the Japanese government and the National Diet, providing policy recommendations on major issues such as international politics, diplomacy, defense and security, global economy, trade, finance, and development cooperation.