Chinese researchers yesterday brushed aside a Japanese
official's remarks that the country's rapid economic growth would
lead to increased nationalism.
Deputy Press Secretary at the Japanese Foreign Ministry,
Tomohiko Taniguchi, said on Tuesday: "the more rapid the growth is,
the more dangerous I think it is going to be for nationalism to
play a role or change the course of the ... nation.
"I would call on the Beijing government to well manage the
equilibrium of the Chinese psyche, because the Chinese people are
experiencing the most rapid ... change in their 2,000-year
history," he said at a regional cultural conference in Hong
Kong.
However, Jiang Lifeng, director of Institute of Japanese Studies
of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said it was a "baseless"
assumption.
"In history, the Western countries had expanded as their
economies grew," Jiang said.
"However, it doesn't necessarily mean that Chinese economy rapid
growth will lead to nationalism. The assumption is an old way of
thinking."
Huang Dahui, director of East Asia Research Center of Renmin
University of China, said that such an assumption may be based on
Japan's own experience of rising nationalism during 1960s and 1970s
when its economy was developing rapidly.
"It is very inappropriate for a Japanese governmental official
to make such remarks when Sino-Japan relationship is warming up,"
Huang said, referring to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's
"ice-breaking" visit to China late last year and Premier Wen Jiabao's "ice-melting" journey to
Japan this April.
Taniguchi also said at the conference that Japan's relationship
with China is "better than ever" and both countries are working to
ensure ties remained stable.
"We are optimistic that the bilateral relationship is going to
be stabilized at least for the time being," he said.
Huang added: "With the economy developing, the Chinese people
indeed are more and more self-confident.
"We can't deny that a very small portion of people behaved
nationalistically. However, the number of those people is so small
that it can't represent the general attitude of Chinese people
toward Japan."
Both Jiang and Huang said Japan should keep an eye more on its
own right-wing nationalists.
"Responding to some Japanese right-wing politicians' denial of
history and visits to Yasukuni Shrine, a small number of Chinese
took vehement action," Huang said, criticizing Japanese former
prime minister Junichiro Koizumi's six visits to Yasukuni Shrine,
which honors 14 Class-A World War II war criminals.
(China Daily July 26, 2007)
