Asian Perspective, Vol. 31, No. 1 (Spring 2007) Special Issue on "Reconciliation between China and Japan"
Guest Editor: Peter Van Ness
INTRODUCTION--RECONCILIATION BETWEEN CHINA AND JAPAN: THE KEY LINK TO SECURITY COOPERATION IN EAST ASIA
- Peter Van Ness (pp. 7-13)
NEW DYNAMICS OF SINO-JAPANESE RELATIONS
- Wenran Jiang (pp. 15-41)
Sino-Japanese relations entered a new phase when Japan's new prime minister, Abe Shinzo decided to make his first foreign trip to China, thus breaking the ice on the bilateral summit that was suspended for five years under the leadership of Koizumi Junichiro. This article examines the domestic and international context of such a shift in Japan's China policy during Koizumi's final year in office and Abe's initial tenure from the fall of 2006 to the spring of 2007. It argues that Abe, although making a decisive shift from Koizumi's confrontational approach with China, has been pursuing a "double movement" strategy with China: positive engagement with Beijing for shared interests and active preparation for containing the rise of China. It offers three recommendations for strengthening the positive momentum and suppressing the negative elements in managing the Japan-China relationship. (Key words: China-Japan relations, East Asian politics, territorial disputes)
THE YOMIURI PROJECT AND ITS RESULTS
- Takahiko Tennichi (pp. 43-60)
In 2006 the Yomiuri Shimbun, the largest daily paper in Japan, completed a year-long campaign to clarify Japanese leaders' responsibility for World War II. Such an undertaking is rare in Japan. The campaign raised five questions: Why did Japan extend the lines of battle? Why did Japan go to war with the United States in spite of the extremely slim prospects for victory? What foolishness caused the Japanese military to employ suicide aircraft attacks? Were sufficient efforts made to bring the war to an end? And, what problems were there with the International Military Tribunal for the Far East? Our project team suggested answers to these questions and clarified who should be held responsible for the war. Throughout the project, we criticized Japan's brutal militarism. At the same time, we made clear our view that those leaders who initiated the war betrayed Japan's national interest. I believe that this project will be a cornerstone for future honest dialogue between Japan and its neighbors.(Key words: Japan, World War II, history of East Asia)
RECONCILING COLONIAL MEMORIES IN KOREA AND JAPAN
- David Hundt and Roland Bleiker (pp. 61-91)
The Republic of Korea and Japan share a tumultuous history, but arguably no period has caused greater trauma in bilateral relations than the twentieth century. After Japan's four-decade long colonial occupation of Korea, the two countries took two decades just to establish diplomatic relations. Subsequent interactions have remained seriously compromised by the memory of colonialism. This article reviews the tensions behind the tempestuous bilateral relationship, focusing on the depiction of Japan's wartime past in school textbooks. We advance three suggestions for reconciliation: viewing reconciliation not as the restoration of a harmonious pre-conflict order, but as an ongoing, incomplete process; expanding promising bilateral dialogues; and accepting that there will always be differences between Korea and Japan, most notably with regard to representations of the past. Rather than being an inevitable source of conflict, these differences should contribute to an ongoing process of negotiation between the two neighbors. (Key words: South Korea-Japan relations, history of East Asia)
CHINESE AND JAPANESE PUBLIC OPINION: SEARCHING FOR MORAL SECURITY
- Mindy L. Kotler, Naotaka Sugawara, and Tetsuya Yamada (pp. 93-125)
Japanese and Chinese hold strikingly similar opinions of each other-both are negative. Since the normalization of Japan's postwar relations with China in 1978, opinion surveys document a clear deterioration of goodwill after nearly two decades of relatively good relations. This trend has accelerated over the past ten years. Most noticeable is how much the decline of trust coincides with a rise of internal socio-economic anxieties in both countries. The central governments are faltering in their ability to provide social stability and cohesion-a sense of safety and material well-being-while establishing a sense of national identity. We argue that current Sino-Japanese tensions reflect more each country's domestic stresses than they do disagreements over history, any inherent geostrategic competition, or regional economic rivalry. Restoration, or the establishment of prosperity, social certainty, and "moral security" in both countries, is necessary before China and Japan can have any meaningful resolution of their historical and geopolitical issues. (Key words: China-Japan relations, East Asian security)
THE EAST CHINA SEA DISPUTE: CONTEXT, CLAIMS, ISSUES, AND POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
- Mark J. Valencia (pp. 127-167)
The East China Sea is one of the last unexplored highpotential resource areas located near large markets. But the development of oil and gas in much of the area has been prevented for decades by conflicting claims to boundaries and islets in the area by China, Taiwan, and Japan. Competition between China and Japan for gas resources in the East China Sea is intensifying and hampering improved relations. However, conflict is not inevitable. A compromise-joint development-is motivated by the realization that a positive China-Japan relationship is simply too important to be destroyed by these disputes. Although both agree in principle on joint development, the two sides have different interpretations of what joint development means or implies, and what area should be jointly developed. The article spells out three basic agreements in principle that are necessary before details of any solution can be negotiated. The alternative to a solution is continued mutual suspicion, unstable relations, unmanaged and undeveloped resources, and an increasing frequency and intensity of incidents, fueling nationalist sentiments and resultant political conflict. (Key words: territorial disputes, China-Japan relations, East Asian security)
Concluding Remarks
OPTIONS FOR RECONCILING CHINA AND JAPAN
- Melvin Gurtov (pp. 169-175)
Review
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?
THE YOMIURI PROJECT AND THE
LEGACY OF THE ASIA-PACIFIC WAR IN JAPAN?
- Tessa Morris-Suzuki (pp. 177-191)
Document
East Asian Security
MANAGING SECURITY IN ASEAN-CHINA RELATIONS: LIBERAL PEACE OF HEGEMONIC STABILITY
- Jorn Dosch (pp. 209-236)
The management of security and ultimately order building in ASEAN-China relations are loosely embedded in a declaratory process of community formation. While this process has generated generally beneficial soft institutions in economic and other policy areas, the current state of relative regional peace is primarily attributable to China's emerging role as a hegemonic stabilizer. The PRC increasingly sets the rules and organizes a growing network of security-relevant relationships in both traditional and non-traditional security fields. Just as in the cases of Pax Britannica and Pax Americana, the up-and-coming Pax Sinica is characterized by the creation and enforcement of rules that are profitable to the dominant state at the center of the security order. At the same time the policies of China as a hegemonic power on the horizon also bring security benefits to the states in its zone of influence. (Key words: China, ASEAN, East Asian security)
