The Hindu : Opinion / News Analysis : Japan, China and a "troubled past"

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 28, 2005

Opinion

Opinion - News Analysis

Japan, China and a "troubled past"

P.S. Suryanarayana

The new row between Tokyo and Beijing over the past is a pointer to their future tussle for primacy in reshaping the global order.

THE CHINESE President, Hu Jintao, made a grand political gesture after his meeting with the Japanese Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi, on the margins of the Asian-African Summit in Jakarta last week.

Mr. Koizumi had asked for the talks to address the latest crisis over a new Japanese history textbook that offended the Chinese and the Koreans. After the meeting, Mr. Hu expressed the hope that the two countries would regard the new parleys as a "turning point" for developing a steady and robust relationship.

Pointer to future

Beyond the solemnity of the popular sentiments in China, the new row between Tokyo and Beijing over the past is a pointer to their future tussle for primacy in reshaping the global order.

Over a year ago, China's new leaders outlined a policy of ensuring their country's "peaceful ascendance" on the international stage. Japan has now responded, with Mr. Koizumi re-stating at the Jakarta summit, that Tokyo would strive to "contribute to the peace and prosperity of the world in the future as well" by "never turning into a military power" but remaining as "an economic power." Mr. Koizumi's punch-line was that Japan would do so by "prizing the relationship of trust it enjoys with the nations of the world". The "trust" relates to the ties Japan has built with other countries after World War II.

On the Chinese side, lest the idea of a "rising China", even as a peaceful phenomenon, arouse negative feelings, the relevant policy has been articulated as one of "peaceful development" rather than "ascendance." This was indicated to The Hindu by Jia Qingguo, Professor, School of International Studies, Peking University, during a recent international conference in Singapore.

Candid admission

The Hu-Koizumi meeting in Jakarta was made possible by Mr. Koizumi's candid admission, a day earlier, about "the tremendous damage and suffering" that Japan's "colonial rule and aggression" in the past had inflicted on the peoples of Asian nations. Mr. Koizumi reassured the leaders at the Asian-African Summit that Japan "squarely faces these facts of history in a spirit of humility" and would continue to conduct itself "with feelings of deep remorse and heartfelt apology always engraved in mind."

Japan's strategic objective is to reassure the other nations of its intentions, as this year marks the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.

Mr. Koizumi's new statement echoed, almost word for word, the apology that Japan tendered on the 50th anniversary. It is clear from an official Chinese version of the Hu-Koizumi meeting that Beijing feels that some of Japan's recent actions have undermined the political basis of the Sino-Japanese equation established when they normalised relations three decades ago.

Beyond the new history textbook and Mr. Koizumi's several visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, regarded outside Japan as a symbol of its imperial militarism of the past, Beijing is wary of the line taken by Tokyo and Washington that the Taiwan issue is central to the peace and stability of the Asia Pacific region. Beijing tends to see this as something, which flies in the face of the repeated commitments by both the United States and Japan to adhere to a One-China policy.

Not surprisingly, Mr. Hu called upon Mr. Koizumi to take "concrete actions" to honour Japan's commitment to the One-China policy. The other imperatives that Mr. Hu cited, as part of a five-point proposal, are the strict adherence to the documents the two countries had already signed, the translation of Japan's apology into action, dialogue and peaceful negotiations to resolve bilateral differences, and the strengthening of communications and cooperation between the two sides.

After his talks with Mr. Hu, Mr. Koizumi said the meeting was based entirely on "a broad perspective that friendly ties between Japan and China will be in the interest of not just our two countries but also Asia and the international community as a whole."

U.S. perspective

Relevant to this is the U.S. view that the Taiwan issue is "not extraneous" to the U.S.-Japan equation.

The question now is how will Japan address the Taiwan issue in the context of China conveying its position at the highest level.

A check-list of the issues in Tokyo's troubled equation with Beijing will not be complete without Japan's recent move to grant rights to some of its firms to carry out test-drilling for oil and natural gas in the disputed waters of the East China Sea.

Japan says China has already taken some unilateral steps in regard to the same waters and wants Beijing to share the relevant data. China sees Japan's test-drilling move as provocative.

Yutaka Kawashima, a well-known Japanese diplomat of yesteryear, recently expounded the dilemma in Japan-China ties thus: "While the economic interdependence of Japan and China deepens and widens, the sense of nationalism in each country often manifests itself in the form of negative attitudes towards the other."

Beyond such economic and political issues is Japan's bid to become a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council with the same status as China. While little has been said by the leaders of the two countries on this issue during their latest standoff and also crisis talks, Japan may feel the need to measure its steps so as to try and attain this status.

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