Waseda University Doctoral Student Network (WUDSN)

THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF SINO-JAPANESERELATIONS AND NORTHEAST ASIAN POLITICS
May 28th 2010, Waseda University Sodai-Nishiwaseda Building Room 711
Discussant: Dr. Hiro Katsumata, Assistant Professor WIAPS, Waseda University

PRESENTATION 1
RETHINKING THE ‘HISTORY PROBLEM’ IN SINO-JAPANESE RELATIONS
Karl Gustafsson, Stockholm University
Abstract
The research project aims to provide a new perspective on the ‘history problem’ in SinoJapanese relations. The first step has involved an analysis of the academic and media
discourse on this issue. This overview identifies a number of problems in the existing
discourse. The most salient of these involves a propensity to focus on the behaviour ofpolitical leaders, especially Japanese leaders. The way the problem is defined suggests thatchanges in the behaviour of Japanese leaders would more or less solve the problem. While
such a behavioural change is likely to lead to improvements, I argue that it is necessary toprobe deeper into the narratives about the war period that can be found in both societies.
While there are several insightful studies dealing with, on the one hand, Japanese war
memories and, on the other, Chinese narratives about the war, the two are seldom
systematically analyzed and compared together in much detail. This study, in contrast, adopts
a comparative approach that pays attention to the role of narratives, arguably central todomestic identity politics in both countries, in bilateral relations.
Narratives about war can be found in several different media and the kinds ofstories found in one are also usually present in other media. One of the most elaborate andevocative kinds of narratives is arguably to be found at museums dealing with the war. For
the purposes of this research project material has been gathered at about 20 Chinese and 30
Japanese peace and war museums. Despite the existence of large numbers of museums thatreceive many visitors, many of them school children, in both, Japan and China these
institutions have received relatively scarce attention, especially from scholars dealing with
Sino-Japanese relations. These exhibitions can be seen as statements concerning what itshould mean to be Japanese and Chinese, respectively. Put differently, they are closely related
to the political agendas of different groups engaged in a discursive struggle. To understandthis struggle and the role of these narratives an account of the contexts in which they appear isprovided. The narratives analyzed contain lessons and stories not just about the in-group, the‘self’, but also about the ‘other’. To the extent that narratives are internalized or subscribed to,they contribute to the construction of the frameworks, or models, through which the actions ofboth the ‘self’ and the ‘other’ are interpreted. For this reason, it is imperative to have a firm
grasp of what kinds of narratives dominate in both societies and how these narratives depict‘self’ and ‘other’.
Karl Gustafsson is a 4th year Ph. D. Candidate in Political Science at Stockholm University.
He is currently a Japan Foundation Japanese Studies Fellow based at the University of Tokyo.

PRESENTATION 2
OCEAN GOVERNANCE, MARITIME SECURITY, AND THE CONSEQUENCES OF
MODERNITY IN NORTHEAST ASIA
Christian Wirth, Waseda UniversityAbstract
High economic growth rates, the revolution in telecommunication, and the end of the Cold
War have brought about rapid and profound changes to the domestic as well as regional
environments of Northeast Asian governments. The maritime sphere, in which increasinglymilitarized state boundaries delineate political authority while at the same time economic
activities link increasingly interdependent communities therein, bears high significance forthe study of regional integration. This paper looks at how the maritime sphere of Northeast
Asia is represented in common political and academic discourses of regional politics. Afterthe critical examination of several arguments about maritime security, the study finds thatmaritime affairs are strongly cast in the language of national security, and that empiricalevidence which stands against such perceived imperatives is often neglected, if notcompletely ignored. The paper argues that the maritime space, due to its special character, has
become the stage on which the consequences of modernity appear particularly strong, and invarious guises. The relentless quest to develop and control the ocean clashes with the notionof the sea as space of global trade and communication flow. At the same time, the ocean as an
ecological entity itself is excluded from the discourse, as it falls in between the spaces definedby the modern conception of territorial sovereignty. As a result, the maritime sphere is seen as
a dividing element between nations rather than a connecting element, and salient
environmental problems remain off the political and academic agendas. This is also a
consequence of mainstream methods of political science which continue to reproduce
hegemonic discourses of territorial, social and economic division through the failure to apply
alternative approaches suitable for the study of contemporary Northeast Asian politics.
Christian Wirth is a Research Fellow at the Global Institute for Asian Regional Integration(GIARI) and a 3rd year PhD Candidate in international studies at the Graduate School of AsiaPacific Studies (GSAPS) of Waseda University. Before coming to Tokyo he was working forthe Departments of Defence and Foreign Affairs of Switzerland. He graduated with a Masterof International Affairs from the Australian National University in 2005, and obtained aMaster of Law from the University of St. Gallen in 2001.