Fifty-five college students from China and Japan gathered in Beijing on Friday to discuss China-Japan relations, protection of intellectual property rights and catering culture through the weekend.

The 30 Chinese and 25 Japanese students from 24 universities, including the Peking University, Tsinghua University, the University of Tokyo and Waseda University, were attending the annual China-Japan Student Conference.

They were grouped into five teams to study bilateral relations, enterprises, international issues, education and culture of the two countries, and were required to submit research papers.

"Similarities connect the friendship of Chinese and Japanese students," said Michigami Hisashi, cultural attache of the Japanese Embassy in China, adding a badminton match between students of the two countries would be held on the sidelines as part of the 2007 Japan-China Cultural and Sports Exchange Year.

"The conference has proved to be an effective platform for students to conduct face-to-face communication, understand traditions and culture of the two countries, and promote an active China-Japan non-governmental exchange," Yang Xiaofang, head of the Chinese student delegation, told Xinhua.

Yang Xiao, one of the chief organizers of the conference, said participants, who were also opinion leaders of the future, expressed hope that the final report of their research during the conference could be a real advisor of the development of the two societies.

Initiated in 1987 by Japanese student volunteers and jointly sponsored by Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its diplomatic association, the China-Japan Student Conference has been held 25 times both in China and Japan over the past two decades.

(Xinhua News Agency August 18, 2007)