Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has repeated his
stance on visiting the Yasukuni Shrine at his New Year press
conference, saying that he couldn't understand why foreign
governments would intervene in a spiritual matter and try to turn
it into a diplomatic problem.
During his term as Prime Minister since April 2001, Koizumi has
visited the shrine which houses 14 class-A World War II criminals
for five times. The visits have seriously hurt the emotions of the
people of China, South Korea and many other Asian countries. His
recent remarks seem to make the cold bilateral relations between
China and Japan even colder. One can't help wondering how long
such chill will last.
2005 marks the 60 anniversary of the world's Anti-Facist war and
the victory of China's
anti-Japanese war which ended in 1945. Japan should have seized
the chance and reflected on its invasion history and tried to
improve its relations with its neighbors. However, Japan has done
the opposite and fundamentally damaged the political foundation of
Sino-Japanese relations. For the whole year, there were many farces
and on October 17th, Koizumi's visit to the Yasukuni Shrine made
Sino-Japanese relations worsen to its coldest point.
In sharp contrast with the Japanese side, Chinese leaders have
put up forward a series of active proposals to improve
Sino-Japanese relations. China and Japan have proposed a series of
diplomatic and security dialogues. However, the dialogues have
failed due to the tough positions Japan took. Meanwhile, Japan had
been fast on the way of appealing America in order to contain
China. It held a 2 plus 2 talk in bilateral defense and diplomatic
relations in February 2005, issuing a joint statement which
included interference in the Taiwan issue. In December, Japanese
Foreign Minister Taro Aso even declared that China "is becoming a
threat".
Japan has paid a heavy political price for its wrong policy. As
a result, Sino-Japanese summit meeting was suspended; there was no
meetings between leaders of China and Japan in APEC summit meeting
either; Summit meeting between China, Japan and South Korea was
also postponed; Sino-Japanese dialogues encountered severe
obstacles; And Japan's plan of becoming one of the permanent
members of the United Nations also suffered a severe setback due to
the opposition from various countries.
Why has Japan constantly challenged the Sino-Japanese relations?
While China is experiencing a fast economic development period at
present, Japan had completed its goal of catching up Europe and
America in the 1980s. Then it shifted its emphasis to change its
image of 'an economic giant, but a political dwarf.' It wants to
become a political power too. On Sino-Japanese relations, it wants
to challenge the consensus reached in 1972 on history, Taiwan issue
and other territorial issues.
Both China and Japan are important countries in the Asia-Pacific
region. A peaceful and friendly relationship between the two is not
only in the interest of the two countries, but also conducive to
the regional and even world peace and stability. Unfortunately,
some Japanese leaders have refused to correct their mistakes so
that Sino-Japanese relations have been chilly for a long time. Many
people hope Sino-Japanese relations will be improved. But against
their goodwill, Koizumi insists on his stance in his New Year's
remark. It indicates that Koizumi would like to continue to keep
the Sino-Japanese relations as chilly as before.
Jin Xide, the author of the article is a research fellow from
the Institute of
Japanese Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The
article is published on People's Daily on Jan 9th.
(People's Daily January 10, 2006)
