Although the weak Sino-Japanese political relationship has strained economic and trade cooperation between the two countries, I believe Sino-Japanese economic cooperation is still the trend, as China and Japan are economically interdependent. China’s vast territory as well as large population has a strong appeal to Japan whose domestic market has already been saturated, while Japan’s advanced technology and mature experience is necessary for China’s development.

Japan’s manufacturing industry has a leading position in the world, providing a development model for China to upgrade its economic structure and seek a new growth point. The traditional agriculture of Japan, constrained by the lacking of arable land, was characterized by intensive cultivation, which is helpful to densely populated China.

Moreover, Japan has gone through different social development stages and accumulated rich experiences, which are beneficial for China as it is faced with similar problems as Japan did before. For instance, in 1970s, Japan suffered from pollution. Beijing is shrouded in a thick haze. Another example is that Japan has had an aging society for many years and developed a mature industry to deal with its aging population, which might inspire China to deal with the up-coming ageing population.

Despite the unfavorable political environment and depressed global economy, the investment from Japan to China still increased this year. So it’s safe to say that the economic circles in both sides are expecting more cooperation. The Sino-Japanese relations are now undergoing a temporary period of cooling-down in both politics and economy, but this situation would be improved soon as long as both governments offer enough political will. Even if there are no fundamental changes on the freezing Sino-Japanese political relations, it can be expected that the mutual cooperation in trade and economy to bottom out in the long run, as economic cooperation is beneficial to both sides.

The violent Anti-Japan parade was unnecessary. We should keep restraint and devote our energy and enthusiasm to the development of our country. After all, we will never forget the lesson we had learnt from the war, “Lagging behind leaves one vulnerable to attacks.

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