China-Japan relations ended on a cold note last year; to be
exact, the coldest since the two nations normalized diplomatic
relations.
The tip of the iceberg seems to be Japanese Prime Minister
Junichiro Koizumi paying homage at the Yasukuni Shrine, flying in
the face of strong protest from China.
The hard line the Koizumi administration has been taking has
driven a wedge between the two countries.
The recent actions of the Japanese media and the Koizumi cabinet
need to be heeded.
Ideology is beginning to feature in Japan's China policy.
Bilateral relations have hardly been subject to ideological
differences between the two countries since the normalization of
relations in 1972.
The wind of change for ideology has been getting up recently. At
the East Asia Summit, Japan claimed the group should be an
important venue for promoting democracy and protecting human
rights.
"Democracy" and "human rights" are the most frequently used
weapons Western hardliners have wielded to attack China.
Moreover, a research group under the Tokyo Foundation produced a
2005 report on its China policy. It recommends that Japan should
ask China to be a responsible power and more enthusiastic about
abiding by international rules, improving human rights records and
promoting democracy, and pushing for a market economy. Japan should
urge China to observe international practice.
The recommendations from the foundation smack of ideology.
The US-Japan alliance, strengthened in 2005, will give Japan a
strong shot in the arm.
Japan has beefed up its security alliance with the US in the
past decade. The pace of this move has been accelerated after the
terrorist attacks in the US in 2001.
The ongoing move towards a stronger security alliance between
Japan and the US should sound an alarm for China, especially since
the two countries mapped out their "settlement" of tensions in the
Taiwan Straits in a list of common strategic goals the defense and
foreign ministers of Japan and the US announced in February
2005.
The new National Defense Program Outline, adopted by the
Japanese Government in December 2004 to replace the old one adopted
in 1995, called for a "flexible" Self-Defense Forces to cope with
various types of threats. The new document expressed alarm over
China, noting its military's "rapid modernization" and "increasing
naval activities." It was the first time that a National Defense
Program Outline had stipulated alarm over China since the first one
was compiled in 1976.
All these documents are of paramount significance, charting a
clear-cut map for Japan's China policy.
Although China and Japan have been blaming each other on the
historical issue, it did not prevent the two countries from
establishing diplomatic relations and developing economic
cooperation. They adopted a pragmatic and friendly approach towards
each other on the basis of some tacit understanding on the
historical issue.
Then why is the issue becoming the immediate cause of the
diplomatic tensions between the two countries after their relations
moved forward in a friendly way for three decades?
Koizumi has succeeded in turning the historical issue into a
card, playing it to solicit votes and consolidating his political
bedrock.
His homage at Yasukuni is a well-calculated strategic move.
Japan's management guru Kenichi Ohmae worries that if Japan
cannot come up with appropriate arrangements, it will be relegated
to the status of a small country beside China.
Obviously, Japan is not happy with this. It has been taking
steps to go big, by getting a permanent seat at the UN Security
Council, enhancing its security alliance with the US, developing
its relations with India and the Pacific countries, and starting
full-blown competition with China.
China-Japan relations moved forward on the wheels of economic
cooperation without a strategic foundation.
The two countries have their own strategic concerns but no
interest in developing strategic cooperation.
Given Japan's recent playing of ideological cards, the scenario
of a strategic cooperation between China and Japan is becoming even
more remote.
(China Daily January 4, 2006)
