The Chinese Japanese relationship: Room for improvement in a troublesome relationship

Résumé du document

I understand that the issue of the Chinese Japanese relationship may prove to be quite a sensitive issue in both countries, and I hope I will not offend anyone in any way, with this presentation. I tried to present the facts and analysis as objectively as possible to highlight the problems and the dynamics of the relationship, and thus finally to propose solutions for betterment. I mainly base this paper on my experiences last year while studying in Japan, and during my research over there, as well as long email exchanges I had with a Chinese friend who was studying with me in Japan, last year: Ji yongsly who is from Beijing, studies Japanese culture, and whom I am thanking, for having provided me with some insights from the Chinese point of view, regarding the Chinese Japanese relationship. Inheritance from World War II and a long history of rivalries, the relationship between the two big powerful nations of North-East Asia, China and Japan, has never seemed to have recovered from the past and its conflicting characteristic.

Extraits

[...] Within Japanese politics, the Nationalists often supports the war on terrorism, as they believe hard approaches need to be taken to deal with threats coming from abroad. On that regard, Japan, could for example, last month become after the United States, the second country in the world to implement finger printing a necessary steps for foreigners to enter Japan. On the other hand, pacifists are showing to be more and more outspoken towards the American war on terrorism, and this political opposition recently won the Senate elections and forced the current government to stop a naval program of refueling US airplanes near the Pakistani coasts. [...]

[...] Not only hatred accumulated from the past, we ought to look at, but also then at the current political situation of the Chinese Japanese relationship in order to go beyond this point of non return and evolution from the past history, to have a better chance at understanding it and therefore proposing solutions as to its bettering. Political incentives for cooperation First of all, the relationship is not by nature just conflicting, some incentives for cooperation exist between the two countries, and would deserve to be highlighted and promoted so that the relationship may improve. A common cultural heritage In terms of identity and history, both countries share common values that could be the basis for a fraternal perception of one another. [...]

[...] - China: If the conflicting past has been clearly instrumentalized in Japan within its political debate and system, is this the case of China. Well, the waves of anti Japanese violent protestations following the history book issue, as well as the permanent relatively violent environment that faced the Japanese soccer team during the 2004 Asian Soccer Cup, this, under the unusual silence from the central government could lead us to question a possible instrumentalization of this conflicting past. China is a fast growing economy, with a social picture evolving quickly. [...]

[...] Though, both trends often agree on the general idea that the outside world may represent a threat to their socially well ordered system, (The loss of values, a more rebellious youth, rules being more and more broken are often linked to the effects of globalization and the growing influence of foreigners: 外人： gaijin) they disagree on the means. For the Nationalists, justifying this more hard line approach, would have to go through a construction of the outside world as being hostile, within the society. [...]

[...] A climate prone to place the Japanese Chinese relation as confrontational. If China is object of fear by many, is because no one really knows much about China, its culture and language, and as a result many prefer the leadership of the US, though contested, as many know much more about the American culture. A rare opportunity will come for China next year with the Olympics in Beijing, to correct this trend. Its international image not well known will get the chance to be exposed worldwide: A bettering of image in Western countries, would as we've said, constitute one of the keys to improving the Chinese Japanese relationship with the visit the Chinese president in Japan as well as the Beijing Olympics, still though constitute good premises as to the future of the relationship. [...]