China-Japan relations roll ahead despite obstacles

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, April 01, 2004

China-Japan relations roll ahead despite obstacles

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China has invariably assumed a posture of considering the overall situation in its foreign policy toward Japan, so Koizumi is prone to reckon that China wouldn't react too strongly to his Yasukuni Shrine visit. He probably believes that his tough stand has "scored". It is in fact, however, a "smart tactical move" at most and is by no means a "wise strategic move".

On Mar. 14 Chinese Premier Wen Jiabo said in answering a Japanese reporter's question: "Now the main problems in China-Japan relations lie in the fact that some leaders of Japan have been repeatedly visiting the Yasukuni Shrine which enshrine class-A war criminals. This has enormously hurt the feelings of the people of China and other Asian countries. --- Japanese leaders should strictly abide by the principles of the China-Japan Joint Statement and two other political documents, take history as the mirror and look forward to the future, they should refrain from doing anything hurting the feeling of the Chinese people, nor should they do anything that would affect the normal exchange of high-level visits and the normal development of relations between the two countries."

Five days later Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi responded on an occasion to this, saying: "China does not want me to visit the shrine, under this circumstance I find I have no need to go." His remarks show that Koizumi clings obstinately to his own way and he has no intention of breaking the deadlock.

Koizumi's petty trick

Admittedly failure in the exchange of visits between the state leaders of the two countries has exerted much negative impact on the Sino-Japanese relations. Nevertheless, the exchange between the two countries in political, economic, civilian and cultural areas are still pushing ahead. A strange situation of "relations development without the exchange of visits between state leaders" has formed between China and Japan. This fact indicates that the development of Sino-Japanese relations is a historical tide independent of the will of some individual leaders such as Koizumi's. It is a historical trend of objective necessity. The will of some individual leaders may have immense negative impact on the political relations between the two countries, but it cannot change the fundamental trend of the development of bilateral relations.

In recent years, China has made great efforts in promoting the development of Sino-Japanese relations in conformity with the trend of the times. However, Koizumi has become more intransigent in his attitude toward history, paying frequent visits to the Yasukuni Shrine. Many Japanese politicians and the ROK government have put forward the proposal for building another memorial facility in place of Yasukuni Shrine. The former Japanese Prime Minister Nakasone Yasuhiro had proposed that the memorial tablets of the class-A war criminals be removed from the Yasukuni Shrine. But Koizumi ignored all these proposals.

China's foreign policy is very transparent, which Japan knows very well. Since China has always assumed a posture of giving consideration to the general situation in its policy toward Japan, so Koizumi is prone to reckon that China wouldn't react too strongly to his Yasukuni Shrine visit, nor would it retaliate by way of trade war. He believes that his intransigent attitude has "scored" in the realms of foreign policy and domestic politics. It is in fact, however, a "smart tactical move" at most and by no means a "wise strategic move". As the former Japanese Prime Minister Nakasone Yasuhiro pointed out: "Japan is hard as a pencil lead. But this pencil lead is too narrow."

The stream rolls on in circumvention of rocks

The development of Sino-Japanese relations, especially the Sino-Japanese economic and trade relations, is hardly possible without economic globalization. The essence of the historical tide of economic globalization is to liberate and develop productive forces and push forward industrial restructuring worldwide.

In terms of industrial structures, China and Japan are in different stages of development. In terms of the general situations of the two countries, they are two different types of big countries in East Asia. Their respective economies are highly and durably complementary. The coupling of the economic and trade relations between the two countries greatly boosts their industrial restructuring, which is the fundamental demand for developing advanced productive forces. The essence of the Sino-Japanese economic and trade relations is to emancipate and develop productive forces. The essential purport of maintaining and promoting the development of Sino-Japanese economic and trade ties politically and diplomatically is therefore to suit the need of developing advanced productive forces.

Historical facts have proved that any politics or policies running counter to the development of productive forces cannot last. In view of this, although the political relations between China and Japan have run up against a "fast knot" resulted from Koizumi's Yasukuni Shrine visit, it is believed that this issue can never hold up the development of the Sino-Japanese cooperative relations based on equality and mutual benefit. As the Japanese media have pointed out, as China's economy keeps on growing and the economic and trade relations between the two countries continue to develop, it is impossible for Japan to ignore the existence of China. This general trend will not remain only in the economic area. Japan's foreign policy will come to a historic turn of "attaching importance to China", turning from "following the United States" to "attaching importance to China"

The current Sino-Japan relations are like a stream coming up against a rock, the stream rolls ahead all the same in circumvention of the rock.

By People's Daily Online

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