China and Japan have a broad prospect for energy and environment cooperation, an expert on Japanese issues told Xinhua in an interview on Saturday.

"Japan is leading the world in energy-efficiency and environment protection technologies, while China is currently devoted to developing an environmental-friendly and energy-efficient society," said Zhou Yongsheng, a professor with China Foreign Affairs University (CFAU).

Japan last September unveiled its New Economic Growth Strategy, under which the country will concentrate on improving energy efficiency and developing high value-added products for international market, said Zhou, who is also a member of the Chinese Association for Japanese Studies.

With the strategy, Japan attempts to end the traditional energy consumption model which is heavily relied on fossil fuels like oil, coal and natural gas, Zhou said.

As a major energy consumer, China promises a huge potential market for relevant Japanese companies, he said.

"Therefore, it's highly probable for the two countries to conduct mutual beneficial cooperation," he added.

Energy cooperation with China will not only help the Japanese companies expand their presence in the Chinese market, but reduce the cost of research and development and reverse Japan's economic downturn, Zhou said.

On their environment cooperation, Zhou said that as close neighbors, any environment problems in one country would inevitably hurt the other.

As a developing country with big territorial area, China is confronted with great environmental challenges, he said, adding that environment cooperation would thus bring benefits to both.

In spite of the progress in their energy and environment cooperation, problems remain, Zhou said.

China has put forward a 4-trillion-yuan (US$586 billion) stimulus package to deal with the current global economic crisis, a great part of which will go to the green projects.

However, according to Zhou, many Japanese enterprises know little about China's policies in this regard, and their technological merits are rarely known to potential Chinese customers either.

"More coordination and exchange are necessary," he said, adding that the Japanese side should do more in introducing their technologies to their Chinese partners to fit into China's plans for future development.

Japan is yet to contribute more to environmental improvement in western China where green technologies are badly needed, he said.

The governments of both countries should encourage more business participation in the region by offering preferential policies and doing more introductions on local merits such as its rich wind and solar resources.

In addition, he said, Japan should ease restrictions on technology export to China, as China's progress in this regard will pose no threat to Japan. Instead, cooperation with China will help the country boost its own progress.

(Xinhua News Agency June 15, 2009)