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Opinion
Special> Diaoyu Islands Dispute> Opinion
UPDATED: August 8, 2012
Japan Needs a Broader Perspective
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Unlike any other country in the world, Japan has a writing system that closely resembles that of Chinese. Yet an affinity in language and culture seems to have not helped ease tensions between the two East Asian countries separated only by a strip of water.

Over the decades, China and Japan have developed tight economic relations, playing out the full potential of each other's complimentary advantages in an increasingly globalized world. China is now the world's second biggest economy, while the Japanese economy is the second biggest among all developed countries.

However, Sino-Japanese relations are characterized by the so-called "cold in politics and hot in economy." While mutual trade and investment soared at a ferocious speed, political frictions, even occasional threats of military actions, have continued to pour cold water on the fragile bilateral relations, normalized only in the 1970s after laborious talks between the two countries' leaders to break the ice after World War II.

As history has showed, it is practically impossible, and emotionally unacceptable, for China to allow another country to exploit its booming economy while maintaining blatant hostility toward the Chinese people.

Some Japanese scholars have already noted that the imbalance in political and economic ties between China and Japan is temporary, saying Japan has become quite unable to keep up with China's economic growth and its improved international economic status. China overtook Japan to become the world's second biggest economy in 2010. While China has been Japan's largest trading partner for five years, accounting for nearly 21 percent of Japan's total foreign trade volume in 2011, Japan is fourth among China's biggest trading partners, after the EU, U.S. and ASEAN.

China's outstanding economic achievement has gained worldwide recognition. While it concentrates on economic development and pursues a defense policy that is defensive in nature, it also makes every effort to protect its national interests and strive for a peaceful external environmental beneficial to domestic development.

The Japanese people well understand the significance and benefits of maintaining a stable and healthy Sino-Japanese relationship. Yuji Miyamoto, Japanese Ambassador to China from 2006 to 2010, has said that building a stable and predictable cooperative partnership with China is in the interests of Japan.

The recent battle over China's Diaoyu Islands has rekindled worries in Japan about the prospect of Sino-Japanese relations. Uichiro Niwa, Japanese ambassador to China, has warned that Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara's scheme to purchase the Diaoyu Islands could spark an "extremely grave crisis" in Sino-Japanese relations.

"We cannot allow decades of past effort to be brought to nothing," he said, although the Japanese Government quickly dismissed his remarks as "personal opinions" that did not reflect the government position.

Japan's "sinking", as some Japanese put it, is over-exaggerated and reflects a paranoiac "zero-game" mentality, as prosperity of one nation does not have to be followed by the loss of another. China has functioned as an engine of growth for Asia for decades and is tapping the potential of neighboring countries. Japan would only lose more if it chooses to stand aloof.

On the political side, the Diaoyu Islands is being manipulated by some other countries to cause alienation in the region. A wise Japan should abandon the tough but fruitless mission to stir up antagonism from China. It is the wolf who profits when shepherds quarrel.

(Xinhua News Agency August 8, 2012)



 
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