Opinion     

Don't read too much into shortened name

China Daily, February 27, 2015

• The China-Japan Friendship Hospital was a local project established in the 1980s with gratis financial support from the Japanese government, which provided half the funds.

  It is both a successful cooperative program and a symbol of the the Sino-Japanese ties.

  On the one hand, the China-Japan Hospital reminds Chinese people that they should appreciate Japan's support in the early days of reform and opening-up; on the other hand, its significance to the Beijing-Tokyo ties is still worth noting.

  Given the Japanese aggression in the country before the end of World War II, it is important for China to urge Tokyo's rightist forces to relinquish their militarism mentality. The word "friendship" has always been controversial to some Japanese politicians, who prefer to define the bilateral bond as based on mutual interests.

  In his first visit to China in 2006, the year that also marked the beginning of his first tenure as Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe proposed that both countries should build a strategically reciprocal relationship, a concept representing pragmatic diplomacy rather than friendship. In stark contrast, the Chinese leadership has often reiterated its friendly stance toward diplomatic relations between China and Japan.

  Hence, regarding the aforementioned name-changing regulation, media outlets and people from both nations should neither overreact, nor give up efforts to bring the two countries closer together.

  The author is a professor of Japan studies at China Foreign Affairs University.

   

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