Gasgoo.com (Shanghai November 20) - In a statement made this pat Friday, Toyota Motor CEO Akio Toyoda expressed his hopes that the next Japanese government would help repair increasingly poor Sino-Japanese relations, the Global Times reported today. Mr. Toyoda's comments come in the run up to the Japanese general election to be held next month.
"Japanese enterprises have suffered due to… appreciation of the yen," Mr. Toyoda (pictured) started, before continuing to talk about the political dispute regarding the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea. "As far as automobile enterprises are concerned, their [Chinese sales] have dropped significantly," he said. "[We] hope that the next Japanese government will promptly act to restore friendly relations with China." Mr. Toyoda also said that he hopes the next batch of leaders will understand the hardships Japanese enterprises and citizens have had to face.
Toyota and other Japanese automobile manufacturers have seen their sales sharply decrease following rising tensions between China and Japan over confrontations regarding disputed territory in the East China Sea. Their combined passenger automobile sales in the country fell over 40 percent in September.
