Sino-Japanese relations

DR AHMAD RASHID MALIK

Business Recorder Logo ARTICLE (October 13, 2010) : Sino-Japanese relations revolve around acute sensitivities. A storm in a cup could turn into a typhoon. Both Japan and China are powerful countries. Their relationship is an ancient relationship, but it was knitted through a very weak thread that could be broken any time on any issue. They have also good allies and foes around them. No country would like to loose either one. Either they have strategic links or economic interests attached to them.

So the stance or position of other countries become confuse or indecisive to take side of either Japan or China in their hostility. The biggest destabilising factor in north-east Asia that could trigger into an ever-bigger conflict in the larger Asia-Pacific region could be the Sino-Japanese rivalry. Both China and Japan have not cozy relations with East Asian neighbours for one or the other reason. It would, however, be difficult for their allies and foes to support or oppose them. Japan is not easily welcome in whole of East Asia. China's position is not so dissimilar. Therefore, a much more bilateral approach, based on mutual respect, is needed to resolve Sino-Japanese hostility. Mediation could be counterproductive.

Sino-Japanese hostility is an historical. They clash over on even petty issues. The irredentist claim is the most sensitive issue between the two countries. International law presents many unanswered questions about the Senkaku /Diaoyu Island dispute between Japan and China. The revival of growing Japanese military assertion could trigger a large-scale conflict between them. On the other, Japan accuses the rise of China for the intensity of the present hostility.

The tussle over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Island, as both countries counter claim over its sovereignty' when Chinese fishing boat captain was arrested over collisions with Japan Coast Guard vessels near the island and Chinese surveillance ships to the waters off the island in September 2010 was inappropriate and destroyed peace building measures between the two countries. The incident deteriorated Sino-Japanese relationship as China took retaliatory measures. The incident delayed the process of forward-looking diplomacy and postponed many initiatives. So a much more diplomatic policy is needed to diffuse the tension between the two countries to amicably resolve the issue.

Actions are appearing highly counterproductive on their respective sovereignty and national pride. The dispute over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Island is a long standing in nature. The islands are a part of the Ryukyuan Arc. The islands are 1200-km long are an island chain of the Ryukyu Arc lying from Kyushu in Japan to Taiwan. Some islands are out of the Ryukyu Arc. The islands form the part of the major volcanic eruption. Historically, the islands formed an independent dynasty. Later, the islands belonged to the Ming Dynasty in China. In 1609, Japan invaded the islands. Hitherto, the islands paid tributes to both China and Japan. In 1879, the Meiji government annexed the islands. The United States favoured Japan over China. Later, the islands became part of the Okinawa prefecture.

Under the San Francisco Peace Treaty of 1951, the islands were enshrined under the control of the United States, which returned the islands back to Japan in 1972. Japan's claim that the international law supports Japan's claim on the islands. Japan's present stance over the Okinawa Island is, however, further complicating the dispute, which is a newly added aspect into the dispute that has become a popular theme in Japanese domestic politics resulting in testing the blood of the leaders. The present incumbent Democratic Party of Japan (Minshuto) installed its second prime minister within a year over the issue.

Some observe that the Senkaku/Diaoyu dispute is renewing and cozying US-Japan ties deteriorated over the relocation of the US marines from Okinawa to Guam in June this year. Did the United States gain out of this dispute, is too early to estimate. A Japan, surrounded by the rising China and the diminishing United States power, needs to balance the strategic equilibrium through its post-war peaceful diplomacy without showing its military muscles to China.

Other than the irredentist counter claim, both nations held responsible each other national humiliation. For example, the Chinese held responsible Japanese for their nationalistic humiliation in the past several decades before the end of Word War II. Many Japanese think otherwise from their nationalistic point of view. They would devote to pay tribute to their heroes.

The latest incident has the potential to magnify the intensity of the hostility. Other countries in the region may also get involved into the conflict, but some of the countries may remain largely reluctant to take open sides. For example, India would not afford to either win Japan or further damage its ties with China over the Sino-Japanese hostility. So would be Pakistan's position on the issue.

This is also a serious challenge for the US-Japan strategic alliance in the Asia-Pacific at this point in time. However, the Sino-American and Sino-Japanese normalisation since the early 1970s has created better conditions for peace and stability in the region. It is up to the present leaderships in both the countries how the approach the issue and lessen the tension.

There had been several of peace and trust building measures between the two countries in the past couple of years. For instance, the visit of the MSDF vessel, Sazanami, left from the Kure naval base in Hiroshima Prefecture, to help the Chinese victims of the 12 May 2008 Sichuan earthquake, was a landmark event as the Japanese military vessel anchored the Chinese naval port of Zhanjiang in the Guangdong province for the first-after the bitter rivalry came to an end between the two nations after Japanese defeat in 1945.

Further, the two defence ministers signed naval vessels' exchanges agreement in August 2007. Further, another breakthrough occurred when both the countries also announced on 18 June 2008 to jointly develop gas deposits beneath waters in the East China Sea that were counter claimed by both side. So much so that Chinese President Hu Jintao attended the outreach section of the Group of Eight summit of wealthy nations held at Toyakoho in the northernmost Hokkaido Prefecture of Japan in August 2008. On the sidelines of the ASEM (The Asia-Europe Meeting) summit, the discussion between Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan on 4 October in Brussels was a good omen to reduce the intensity of the hostility. It was not a loose or a win game on the part of ether side, but a peaceful diplomacy to promote mutual ties. In the coming days, it is anticipated that both the countries should accomplish more mutual understandings and they should not reduce the level of constructive accomplishments.

However, the new potential military build-ups in the region would disturb the power equilibrium by creating apprehensions leading to global conflicts. Besides the historic seeds of the Sino-Japanese rivalry, the drastic shift in Japan's anti-nuclear policy has the greatest potentials to disturb the existing equilibrium in the Asia-Pacific region. The development of this issue could further complicate the Sino-Japanese ties. It is hoped that both China and Japan could mend their broken ties to build peace and expand prosperity in the region.

(The writer is a fellow of The Japan Foundation, Tokyo, Japan)