"CEAC Commentary" introduces news analyses andopinions in Japan on the concept of an East Asian
Community, but they do not represent the views of
CEAC as an institution.

June 25, 2008

Japan-China Relationship Entered New Stage
By SHINDO Eiichi
Chinese President HU Jintao himself referred to his last visit to Japan as a trip of“warming spring.” The visit has proven the reality of the current Japan-China relations whichgets into the stage of maturity.

If the visit had been made five years ago under the Koizumi Administration, it would havebeen broken off at the outset, due to the historical issues over Yasukuni Shrine. If it had been
made ten years ago when Mr. ISHIHARA Shintaro, now the Governor of Tokyo, attempted toland on the Senkaku/Daiyudai Islands, there would have been fierce disputes over the territorial
claims surrounding the gas field development in the East China Sea. Then Japan and China
could have been on the brink of collision. Then if it had been made fifteen years ago afterTiananmen Square incident, the public opinion on this side of the Sea could have been inferment over the issues of the human rights with the Tibetan problems. So the visit would havebeen ended with sheer exchanges of blame and charges. A Chinese leader’s visit to Japan as thehead of the state has never been attempted in the last ten years since the one of JIANG Zemin in
1998, while the visit as a Chinese top political leader was followed by the "ice-thawing" trip toJapan last year by Premier WEN Jiabao. The Japan-China relationship is now heading for thestage of maturity based on “common strategic interests with the mutual benefits “of bothcountries.

According to Professor Martin JANICKE, “strategy is deliberately drawn scheme tochange the current status quo.” Driven by the rapid economic growth of China with theexpanding huge Asian market, both countries have noticed the dire necessities to change thestatus quo coming from their past policies, moving boldly out of the traditional Cold War1

mindset of the 20th century into the new Asian Age in the 21st century.

It is true that President HU’s visit seems to have no fruit in any issues such as the Tibetan
problem, the disputes over the gas fields in East China Sea, and the troubles of imports of thetainted frozen dumpling made in China. However, regarding the Tibetan, the Chinese
government has started intense dialogue with the 14th Dalai Lama to solve the problem justprior to HU’s visit to Japan to defuse the conflict. The dispute over the gas fields has now
converged into the final pragmatic stage of agreement and deal to share costs and benefits ofjoint development, putting aside the thorny political issues of territorial claims over theproblematic islands with demarcation of the contiguous zones of the Sea. As Primer FUKUDA
told at the press conference, they have almost agreed on the issues. In addition, on the troublesof the imported tainted frozen dumpling, they have had the understanding to seek thefuture-oriented solution for the prospects and premises for the commonly developed market offood production in East Asia, rather than to demand full accountabilities of the accidents in thepast. It would be even schemed to create the joint food-risk management system with an East
Asian version of European Food Safety Authority, as suggested by Dr. YASUE Noriko ofRitsumeikan University.

What should be noted here is that Japan and China have started to closely cooperate in theissues of global climate change. As the current Joint Statement has folded out, Japan succeededin gaining Chinese approval of her proposal for a “sectoral approach” which focused on
reducing greenhouse gas emissions within each industrial sector across the national border,
whileJapanagreedtocooperatein

providingfor

Chinaenergy-efficientandenvironmentally-friendly science and technologies. In addition, China has accorded to takepositive and constructive attitude to participate in the negotiations for the post-Kyoto Protocolregime. These are the realistic diplomacy in the true sense of the word on both sides of theparties to create “win-win” relationship between Japan and China, which would be implemented
between the country with environmentally sophisticated technologies and the country with huge2environmental pollutions. In order to expand the ”win-win” relationship from the fields ofenergy and environment to those of food and agriculture, they will have to move further towards
the formation of East Asian community of agro-production and food systems. Prior to President
HU’s visit, both countries accorded to resume the import of Japanese rice by China who hadsuspended it since 2003. From now on, the export of Japanese high qualified food products suchas rice, fruits and seasonings to the Chinese markets will be expanding, which have hundreds ofmillions of rich middle class people living in large cities in East Coast. It demarcates exactly theformation of an East Asian community based on the common energy, environment andagricultural markets.

The agreement to implement the exchange programs of about 3,000 students per year overthe coming four years will pave the road to a full fledged East Asian community in the future
through expanding the cultural exchanges among younger generations. In these senses, President
HU’s visit has been firmly founded on his own innate determination for expanding much closer
relationship with Japan, which would be even more significant than the strategic thinking ofChinese past political leaders. Between the first generation (pro-Russian group) and the thirdgeneration (pro-American group) within the Chinese Communist Party, President HU represents
the second generation which has attached greater significance to the China-Japan relationship.
The trip of “warming spring” must have been based on his own convictions of and views toJapan since his younger days in the 1970s in charge of China-Japan Youth Friendship Exchange
Program.

Now both countries have had the irreversible relationship of socio-economic
interdependencies. This fact of reality is even recently demonstrated by Japan’s emergency relief
activities for great calamities of Sichuan Earthquake which occurred just one week afterPresident HU had returned to China. They have clearly vindicated the fallacies of the opinionsof currently over-claimed ”New De-Asianism” among the Japanese right-wing political circles
that have persistently insisted Japan should not take the road to associate with the continental

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Asia.

(This is the English translation of an article written by Mr. SHINDO EIICHI, Professor
Emeritus of Tsukuba University, which originally appeared on the BBS “Hyakka-Somei” ofCEAC on May 22, 2008.)

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