Japan saw major political change last year with the election defeat of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) by the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) and, correspondingly, Sino-Japanese relations in 2009 should be seen as divided into two phases.

In last January at the 9th China-Japan Strategic Dialogue, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Guangya met his Japanese counterpart Mitoji Yabunaka and agreed to enhance communication, coordination and cooperation.

In March, the 2009 Diplomatic Bluebook from the Japanese Foreign Affairs Ministry sketched relations between the two countries in positive terms. It said President Hu Jintao's visit to Japan was "of historic significance" and that "the two nations have made definite progress in constructing a mutually beneficial relationship."

In April during a state visit to China Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso explicitly rejected the "China Threat Theory" and said "China's economic development is an opportunity for the international community, including Japan." He added that "neither Japan nor China wish to become military superpowers; the two countries pose no threat to each other and they should strengthen cooperation on peaceful development."

In response, President Hu restated China's consistent policy of developing good relations with Japan, saying "China and Japan are close neighbours, and the two countries' close cooperation in politics and the economy and developing strategic relations lay a good foundation for the future development of the Sino-Japanese relationship." He added that "in the multilateral fields, China and Japan should focus on boosting the regional cooperation in East Asia to cope with the global economic crisis and other global challenges." Hu said the two countries should "step up their cooperation in regional structures such as ASEAN 10+3, the East Asia Summit and China-Japan-South Korea Cooperation, to promote peace, stability and development in Asia and the world."

These developments meant that as far as ties with China are concerned, the LDP's long period in office ended on an extremely positive note.

The DPJ makes a good start

In contrast with the LDP, the DPJ was established only 14 years ago, and its previous contacts with China were only at the party level. It is no rival to the LDP in terms of experience regarding either China policy or Sino-Japanese communication. So on assuming power in September last year, DPJ took immediate steps to improve Sino-Japanese relations. The groundwork for this had already been laid by former DPJ President Ichiro Ozawa through initiatives such as the DPJ's "Great Wall Plan" to improve contacts and exchange with China.

On taking power the DPJ was not only faced with fulfilling its long term promise to promote Japan's relationship with China but also wanted to develop the Japan-US relationship, raising it to a "close and equal" status in order to defend Japan's "independent voice in diplomacy."

In China's view, relations were quite good in the changeover period. Facing a different diplomatic counterpart, the Chinese government stuck to its policy of developing the good relations with Japan. Simultaneously, China is also promoting the formerly inter-party communications between the Communist Party of China and the DPJ to an inter-governmental diplomatic relationship. On the Japanese side the newly appointed Foreign Affairs Minister Katsuya Okada has been taking the opportunity of bilateral and multilateral meetings to improve relations with China.

In October, Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama visited China, to take part in a Chinese-Japanese-South Korean summit. The joint declaration following the meeting included remarks on the healthy and stable direction of Sino-Japanese relations. The joint declaration stated "the three countries are constructing the East Asian Community based on openness, transparency and tolerance, dedicating to regional cooperation, and gradually enhancing the communication and coordination in regional and global affairs."