Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Cites Improved Ties With Beijing

[Aepsilons]

BEIJING — Striking an upbeat note, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan said Tuesday that he believed his country and China had taken a major step forward in repairing relations, and that from now on there should be frequent dialogue between them.

Mr. Abe, speaking in public for the first time since he met on Monday with China’s president, Xi Jinping, said that for the sake of the Asia-Pacific region, the onus was on both countries to work toward a “mutually beneficial” relationship based on strategic interests.

“Japan and China, we need each other,” Mr. Abe told a news conference here at the close of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit meeting, attended by leaders of 21 countries. “We are, in a way, inseparably bound together.”

After the meeting between Mr. Abe and Mr. Xi, which was intended to defuse tensions that had threatened to set off conflict and had inflamed nationalist sentiments in two of Asia’s wealthiest countries, the nations put different spins on the outcome.

Mr. Abe, in his search for the positive, said there should be “dialogue again and again.”

In contrast, the Chinese news media, while showing a more moderate attitude toward the territorial dispute that erupted more than two years ago over islands in the East China Sea, continued assigning blame.

Pointing the finger at Japan, the state-run news agency Xinhua quoted Mr. Xi as saying, “Severe difficulties have emerged in Sino-Japanese relations in recent years, and the rights and wrongs behind them are crystal clear.”

Mr. Abe said he had requested that Mr. Xi push forward plans for a hotline connecting the two countries to help prevent their vessels in the East China Sea from getting dangerously close to one another.

The crisis over the islands, known as the Diaoyu in China and the Senkaku in Japan, began in September 2012 when the Japanese government purchased them from a private owner.

The Chinese, who claim the islands were wrongfully taken from them by Japan at the end of the 19th century, sent squadrons of paramilitary vessels into the waters around the islands, and Japanese Coast Guard boats fended them off in what became a cat-and-mouse game.

In the past several months, the tensions on the seas have moderated as quiet talks on developing the hotline began.

At his news conference, Mr. Abe said that he had held a “tête-à-tête” with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia during the forum, and that they had discussed concluding a Japanese-Russian peace treaty in time for the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II in 2015.

Even as China and Russia draw closer, the relations between Japan and Russia have also developed, prompted by a mutual desire to stop China from becoming a regional superpower, analysts say. A peace treaty would help bind the two countries as a balance to China’s rise.

In the last few months, Russian and Japanese diplomats have been working on ending a territorial dispute over the Kurile Islands, known as the Northern Territories in Japan, which the Soviet Union secured near the end of World War II. Japan claims them as its territory.

A resolution of that dispute would pave the way for a formal World War II peace treaty.


http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/12/world/asia/japan-china-xi-jinping-shinzo-abe-meeting.html?_r=0


@TaiShang , @Chinese-Dragon , @Edison Chen , @Genesis

 

[Raphael]

Welcome thaw in Sino-Japan ties, despite ongoing friction | South China Morning Post

Welcome thaw in Sino-Japan ties, despite ongoing friction

Television images of an awkward handshake and frosty body language did not portray a typical start to a bilateral summit at an important moment in the deeply troubled relationship between China and Japan. We don't know if appearances thawed when President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe began their talks behind closed doors. But the two Asian giants need to seize the opening created by the meeting to reduce tensions and make a fresh start.

The mere fact that the leaders of the world's second- and third-biggest economies have met for the first time in two years - if only for 25 minutes - not only raises hopes of containing escalating tensions; it is a necessary and significant first step towards a political reconciliation that paves the way for normalisation of a key relationship for global security.

Relations between the two governments have almost frozen. The risk of armed conflict could not be ruled out as ties plumbed new lows over disputed claims to the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea, known as the Senkakus in Japan. And Abe has personally infuriated China by visiting Tokyo's Yasukuni shrine to war dead, including convicted class-A war criminals.

Before this week's meeting between Xi and Abe, officials from both sides forged a four-point consensus that acknowledges "different views" on the territorial dispute over the islands and calls for adherence by both sides to past agreements. It is reassuring that the two leaders at least agreed to establish a crisis-management system such as a hotline so that any incident in waters around the disputed islands such as a collision does not escalate into conflict.

Despite the consensus between officials, it seems that Xi only agreed to the meeting at the last minute. Indeed Chinese media speculated that the summit would not happen. This reflects the absence of an undertaking by Abe to stay away from the shrine as prime minister, and that the wording over the islands can be seen as weak in order to accommodate Japan.

The two sides therefore have difficult issues to work through. The bilateral summit was a symbolic start, however awkward, on implementing the agreement between officials to gradually resume political, diplomatic and security dialogue. For Xi it amounts to a calculated risk. Nationalistic sentiment in China remains very strong. But it is a risk worth taking. As Abe said yesterday, the two countries need one another and their relationship matters to the rest of the world.

 

[Aepsilons]

In Japan there is a use of figurative language used to describe the current relationship between China and Japan and the prevailing need to resolve it. Japan is 弟, and China is 兄貴. Younger Brother (Japan) and Older Brother (China) relationship.

We view China and Chinese as Filial Brothers. And thus, are family. As Brothers, there should be peace and understanding.

 

[bolo]

Please move this to Funny and Stupid around the world

 

[TaiShang]

Sino-Japanese ties: better for neighbors to often visit each other

11-12-2014 18:46 BJT


By Du Xiaojun, assistant research fellow of National Institute for South China Sea Studies

When Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe arrived in Beijing for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Meeting, China became the 50th country he has visited in his 'diplomacy overlooking the globe'. On Nov. 10, Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Abe, at the latter's request, on the sidelines of the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting. This was the first meeting between leaders of China and Japan since May 2012.

In recent years, Sino-Japanese relations have slumped to their lowest point in history because of Japan’s 'nationalization' of the Diaoyu Islands and other disputed islands in the East China Sea in Sept. 2012. Both sides have since strengthened patrols in the waters off the Diaoyu Islands, heightening tensions in the East China Sea.

Since the Abe-led Liberal Democratic Party came into power, relations between China and Japan have soured because of the Diaoyu Islands issue and historical issues.

On Dec. 26, 2013, Shinzo Abe, in his capacity as Japan’s prime minister, visited the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors 14 Class-A World War II war criminals, thus again provoking neighboring countries on historical issues. The Chinese government lodged solemn representations and expressed resolute opposition to Abe’s shrine visit, saying his visit created a major political obstacle to already strained China-Japan relations.

During Abe’s two-year rule, his nationalist foreign policy has catered to the rightists in Japan, but has also drawn criticism of people from all walks of life.

In 2013, Japanese exports to China decreased by 10.2 percent, and China-Japan trade volume dropped by 6.5 percent year-on-year. From January to September of this year, Japan’s direct investment in China was down by more than 43 percent compared with the same period last year.

China is Japan’s largest trading partner, so Japan’s political and business communities are extremely concerned about the decreasing trade volume and direct investment in China. Hiromasa Yonekura, the chairman of the Japan Business Federation, head of DPJ Banri Kaieda and former Japanese PM Yasuo Fukuda visited China on behalf of Japan’s business and political circles. The Abe administration has been under great pressure because of the increasing domestic appeal for improving Sino-Japanese relations.

On Jan. 2013, Shinzo Abe asked Komeito Party leader Natsuo Yamaguchi to deliver a letter to Xi requesting political talks and a meeting between leaders of the two countries. In March 2014, while Xi was visiting Europe, Abe again requested a meeting. And before the Beijing APEC meeting, Abe was even more eagerly anticipating a meeting.

On Nov. 7, Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi held talks with visiting National Security Advisor of Japan Shotaro Yachi, and both sides reached a four-point agreement to improve Sino-Japanese relations. The four-point agreement laid the foundation for Xi’s meeting with Abe during the APEC meeting. The agreement states:

Firstly, both countries will follow the principles of the four political documents reached between them in 1972, 1978, 1998 and 2008, respectively, to develop the China-Japan strategic relationship of mutual benefit.

Secondly, in the spirit of 'facing history squarely and looking forward to the future,' the two countries have agreed on overcoming 'political obstacles' in the bilateral relations.

Thirdly, the two sides have acknowledged that 'different positions' exist between them regarding the tensions that have emerged in recent years over the Diaoyu Islands and waters in the East China Sea. They agreed to prevent the situation from being aggravated through dialogue and consultation and establishing crisis management mechanisms to avoid contingencies.

Fourthly, the two sides have agreed to 'gradually resume political, diplomatic and security dialogue' through various multilateral and bilateral channels and to make efforts to build political mutual trust.

The four-point agreement is regarded as a major step toward the improvement of Sino-Japanese relations and a compromise between both sides.

But we should be aware that this agreement only reveals the minimum consensus between China and Japan. Japan has not changed its policy on the sovereignty of the Diaoyu Island and its affiliated islets or on its leaders’ Yasukuni Shrine visit. After the four-point agreement was reached, Abe delivered a televised speech reaffirming its stance on these issues. The Japanese government only admits tensions between China and Japan in the East China Sea, not the existence of territorial disputes on Diaoyu Islands. Besides, even though the agreement urges Japan to 'face history squarely', it cannot guarantee that Japanese prime ministers will not visit the Yasukuni Shrine in the future. The road forward for China and Japan is still full of thorns.

The four-point agreement and the leaders’ meeting received positive reviews from other countries. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said, 'This is not an end but a start.' It is impossible to solve problems in a short meeting, but the meeting opens the door for the improvement of Sino-Japanese relations.

Cooperation will benefit both sides, while confrontations will hurt them both. As the world second-largest and third-largest economies, the development of Sino-Japanese relations will affect the Asia-Pacific region at large. China and Japan should avoid confrontations and try to seek consensus. The meeting between Xi and Abe proves the existence of consensus between the two countries. Only when both sides enhance consensus and remain committed to it can peace and stability in East Asia be ensured.

 

[Armstrong]

In Japan there is a use of figurative language used to describe the current relationship between China and Japan and the prevailing need to resolve it. Japan is 弟, and China is 兄貴. Younger Brother (Japan) and Older Brother (China) relationship.

We view China and Chinese as Filial Brothers. And thus, are family. As Brothers, there should be peace and understanding.

So @Chinese-Dragon where do I figure into this Brotherhood ?

 

[qwerrty]

 

[kawaraj]

It's hard to chew his words of

both countries to work toward a “mutually beneficial” relationship based on strategic interests.

as the fact is hard to embrace such a situation.

China's strategic interest is a "peaceful" rise and slowly fend off the US's presense in Asia to restore the historic constance of middle kingdom order. I would say the US has a typical tit for tat strategic interest of containment of China.

Japan has to see through the connumdrum to find out the perfect way. I understand some pro-US policticions (mind I don't want to use "right wing" as it's not perfectly the truth) will stand against any move that will benefic China's rise. We have seen Japan's recent postiton in Asian Infrastruction Bank that China has promoted and the US is against. And Japan's shelved Japan-China FTA and embrace US backed TPP. Let me remind you that it's not only the Senkaku tension that seperate the couple.

It's up to this generation of Japanese politicion to draw Japan's future. If Japan stand the wrong side. The only result is Japan is marginized and slowly see Asian nations overtake Japan one by one. I used to look down Korean manufacture but with this China-Korea FTA I will see such a possiblility is getting real.