Vogel noted that Japan still outperforms China in a number of areas, such as in relatively small income disparity, low corruption, high product quality, a universal and reasonably priced healthcare system, low crime rate, public civility, clean cities and an orderly and trust-based society.

Vogel argues that while Japan's situation today is quite different from 35 years ago when the book was first published, much of the essence of the book remains true today and is still worthy of learning by other nations.

That is so true for China, where everything from the widening income gap, rampant corruption to a problematic public healthcare system and incivility are major challenges.

Chinese companies, which are increasingly investing overseas, including in the US, have a lot to learn from the lessons of Japanese companies in the past decades.

It is also true that the sheer size of the Chinese economy has surpassed that of Japan, but in the per capita sense, China still lags far behind. And Japan still has a clear edge over China in technology, management, manufacturing prowess and education.

A friend of Japan and China, Vogel hopes the two nations would expand their peaceful interactions. He believes peaceful coexistence and close contact would benefit both nations.

I still remember visiting and chatting with Vogel at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 2011 shortly after his book Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China was published. He praised Hu Yaobang, the Chinese leader in the 1980s, for promoting healthy China-Japan ties and cultural exchanges.

The author is deputy editor of China Daily USA. chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com