China and Japan's icy relations are melting in the warm April
temperatures.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took an ice-breaking trip to
Beijing in October. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, who arrives in
Japan today from the Republic of Korea, has called his visit to the
Land of Cherry Blossoms ice-melting.
In the season of cherry blossoms 15 years ago, Wen visited
Japan. But the current visit over the next three days is the first
presence of a Chinese premier in Japan in seven years.
These two neighbors have shied away from each other for too
long.
Trade between China and Japan has fallen victim to chilly
bilateral relations. Japan, which used to be China's largest trade
partner, fell to third behind the United States and European Union
in 2004.
The feeling that the time has come for better bilateral
relations is in the air. The two countries have been working on
preparations that are expected to make Wen's Japan trip the start
of a new period.
China and Japan have begun the seventh round of talks on the
East China Sea oil gas field. Scholars from the two countries have
met for the second time in Tokyo for a joint program studying their
shared history.
It is believed that a kind of trust between Wen and Abe has been
built thanks to their contact in Beijing in October 2006 and in
Cebu, the Philippines, in January. During the Chinese premier's
stay in Japan, the two countries will deal with specific
issues.
Wen's visit may produce a document that will carry forward the
two countries' aspirations to build a mutually beneficial strategic
relationship.
In doing so, it will usher in a new era of bilateral
relations.
It takes more than one cold day to freeze 3 feet of ice, as a
Chinese saying goes. And the process of thawing can be equally
slow.
It is unrealistic to expect that a single trip by a Chinese or
Japanese leader will solve all the problems the two countries
face.
Wen's Japan trip is important for continuing the exchange of
visits between the top leaders of the two countries. In fact, this
April visit is expected to help warm diplomatic relations and build
the two peoples' confidence in expanding ties.
(China Daily April 11, 2007)
