Half of Japanese see no need to rush rapprochement with China

[haidian]

November 27, 2017 2:36 am JST
Half of Japanese see no need to rush rapprochement with China
53% oppose offering concessions to improve bilateral ties, Nikkei poll finds

TOKYO -- A slight majority of Japanese believe that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe should be cautious in his efforts to improve relations with China, a Nikkei Inc./TV Tokyo survey finds.

Territorial and other issues have overshadowed ties between the countries in recent years. But Abe need not rush to mend fences with China if that means Japan has to make concessions, said 53% of survey respondents. On the other hand, 32% said Japan may have to make concessions if doing so serves to improve relations.

Opinion was also divided among respondents identifying themselves with the ruling coalition. A plurality of those supporting the smaller Komeito party said concessions were an inevitable part of advancing relations with China.

The poll, conducted from Friday through Sunday, showed that the approval rating of Abe's cabinet down slightly at 52%, little changed from the 54% in the previous survey on Nov. 1-2. Disapproval remained almost flat as well, up 1 percentage point to 39%.

While Beijing is becoming more assertive in the South China Sea, heightening tensions in the region, Abe refrained from directly criticizing China during a string of meetings with Asian leaders earlier this month. He said only that any disputes in the South China Sea should be resolved peacefully based on international law.

Abe seeks to hold a three-way summit with China and South Korea at an early date and is also working to visit China and host a reciprocal visit to Japan by Chinese President Xi Jinping next year.

Asked how the international community should deal with North Korea's continued nuclear and missile tests, 53% of respondents said economic sanctions should be strengthened, up 9 points from when the same question was posed in a survey in late August. Meanwhile, 31% favored dialogue as a means of resolving the issue -- down 6 points -- and 9% said military action should be considered, down 5 points.

Shattered opposition

The approval rating of the opposition Party of Hope, launched by Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike before last month's snap election, dropped by half from the previous survey to just 2%. Public support for the Constitutional Democratic Party remained unchanged at 14%. Both parties split from the Democratic Party leading up to the general election, in which Hope suffered a crushing defeat. Koike has stepped down as leader, and the party's support continues to tumble.

The approval rating of Abe's Liberal Democratic Party fell 5 points to 39% but stayed far above the leading opposition's. People who do not support any particular party increased 7 points to 30%.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics-Ec...-need-to-rush-rapprochement-with-China?page=1

 

[MultaniGuy]

lol Japan is no match for China.

Japan has a much smaller population than China's.

China will eventually eclipse Japan in many sectors.
In fact China already has when it comes to economy a long time ago.

That is very old news.

 

[ValerioAurelius]

lol Japan is no match for China.

Japan has a much smaller population than China's.

China will eventually eclipse Japan in many sectors.
In fact China already has when it comes to economy a long time ago.

That is very old news.

China has extreme poverty levels. I hope one day China achieves the same living standard that Japan enjoys.

 

[MultaniGuy]

China has extreme poverty levels. I hope one day China achieves the same living standard that Japan enjoys.

Thats because China has a huge population.

 

[Huan]

The modern Japanese mentality still looks down on the Han Chinese as compared to the Russians and the Americans unfortunately. Notice there are only Japanese, Russian, and an American astronaut traveling to the International Space Station today. It is a privileged elitist club that excludes China completely. To them, who needs China when we have the ISS to ourselves.....And just look at their anime and games such as Xenoblade Chronicles X on how they look up to the United States. That will only change when China's official nominal GDP size and military power (navy and air force) exceeds the USA. Seriously, I can still feel the superiority complex coming from the Japanese.

 

[MultaniGuy]

The modern Japanese mentality still looks down on the Han Chinese as compared to the Russians and the Americans unfortunately. Notice there are only Japanese, Russian, and an American astronaut traveling to the International Space Station today. It is a privileged elitist club that excludes China completely. To them, who needs China when we have the ISS to ourselves.....And just look at their anime and games such as Xenoblade Chronicles X on how they look up to the United States. That will only change when China's official nominal GDP size and military power (navy and air force) exceeds the USA. Seriously, I can still feel the superiority complex coming from the Japanese.

Well Pakistanis look down upon Indians.

 

[Menthol]

I actually extremely agree with the Japanese people.

For China itself, there is no need to get close to Japan right now.

 

[ohmrlobalobayeh]

The modern Japanese mentality still looks down on the Han Chinese as compared to the Russians and the Americans unfortunately. Notice there are only Japanese, Russian, and an American astronaut traveling to the International Space Station today. It is a privileged elitist club that excludes China completely. To them, who needs China when we have the ISS to ourselves.....And just look at their anime and games such as Xenoblade Chronicles X on how they look up to the United States. That will only change when China's official nominal GDP size and military power (navy and air force) exceeds the USA. Seriously, I can still feel the superiority complex coming from the Japanese.

i can feel the hidden inferiority complex from your post

 

[Menthol]

The modern Japanese mentality still looks down on the Han Chinese as compared to the Russians and the Americans unfortunately. Notice there are only Japanese, Russian, and an American astronaut traveling to the International Space Station today. It is a privileged elitist club that excludes China completely. To them, who needs China when we have the ISS to ourselves.....And just look at their anime and games such as Xenoblade Chronicles X on how they look up to the United States. That will only change when China's official nominal GDP size and military power (navy and air force) exceeds the USA. Seriously, I can still feel the superiority complex coming from the Japanese.

50 : 50

Look down because of poverty, but not so surprising too if China became a developed country, economically and technology strong.

Overseas Chinese is also look down on mainland Chinese because of poverty, as well as fear them because they are smarter and work harder.

The annoying part is when mainland Chinese became wealthier and starting to look down on overseas Chinese.

East Asian are racist when it come to money!

 

[Cybernetics]

Its beneficial for China's long term position in East Asia that rapprochement doesn't occur so soon (at the expense of Japan's relative position). Time is on China's side, as its leverage in the region will grow. Japan is not weak but it is stagnating in most metrics.

Regarding looking down on Chinese, I have personally observed that phenomenon as well. It's usually due to 2 things: income and civility, both of which are improving quite rapidly. Japan's perspective is different than that of overseas Chinese. While many overseas Chinese look down upon Mainland Chinese, deep down (sometimes very publicly) they very much want to see a powerful and civilised China rising, its not that they hate China. I have observed this especially among Singaporeans. They live in a high standard environment, and hope Mainland Chinese can operate at the same level or beyond, can't expect someone of high standards to lower them. Publicly Singapore hedges against China's rise, its the prudent thing to do in long term geo-strategic negotiations (IMO benefits China too). Singapore is also a sovereign nation state with its own interests and geo-strategic constraints. Beyond the headlines Singapore actively supports and funds Chinese projects and furthers Chinese interests on the mainland and overseas.

Much of China's initial rise was facilitated by overseas Chinese. To them China's rise is not only a project for Mainland Chinese but also overseas Chinese, they were motivated by money but to some there is an element beyond monetary gain. Some feel uncomfortable with China's rise but they understand it's the natural order in East Asia and to some extent feel pride/hope along with discomfort.

 

[empirefighter]

The modern Japanese mentality still looks down on the Han Chinese as compared to the Russians and the Americans unfortunately. Notice there are only Japanese, Russian, and an American astronaut traveling to the International Space Station today. It is a privileged elitist club that excludes China completely. To them, who needs China when we have the ISS to ourselves.....And just look at their anime and games such as Xenoblade Chronicles X on how they look up to the United States. That will only change when China's official nominal GDP size and military power (navy and air force) exceeds the USA. Seriously, I can still feel the superiority complex coming from the Japanese.

The modern Japanese have this superiority just because of their nominal GDP, the time is short when we talk about the thousand years of the East Asian history. Chinese were wealthier than the Japanese most of the history, and this superiority just reflect Japan is not a matured country. But I think many Japanese know this, they had been under our shadow for thousands of years. In my view, the reasons why modern Japanese look down on China are very simple:1、Japan have to encourage themselves and repeat: Chinese are not capable, so no need to be afraid. 2、Japanese have no choice, it has to make friends with Russians, specially with the Americans to counter with China. In fact, Japan cares us SO MUCH, its diplomacy focuses on USA and China. Its leader try to find helpers all over the world, Japan is SO AFRAID of us and it know it cannot confront us by itself. So I donot see any TRUE superiority from Japan. Finally, as you said, if we are too strong for the Japanese to confront, the Japanese will kneel down to us ASAP as they did several times in history.

 

[Beast]

The modern Japanese mentality still looks down on the Han Chinese as compared to the Russians and the Americans unfortunately. Notice there are only Japanese, Russian, and an American astronaut traveling to the International Space Station today. It is a privileged elitist club that excludes China completely. To them, who needs China when we have the ISS to ourselves.....And just look at their anime and games such as Xenoblade Chronicles X on how they look up to the United States. That will only change when China's official nominal GDP size and military power (navy and air force) exceeds the USA. Seriously, I can still feel the superiority complex coming from the Japanese.

It a privilege, China send their astronaut to space by their own spacecraft unlike the superior Japanese who can't and need to piggyback the Russian equipment.

How does that makes them feel superior?

 

[seven7seven]

The modern Japanese mentality still looks down on the Han Chinese as compared to the Russians and the Americans unfortunately. Notice there are only Japanese, Russian, and an American astronaut traveling to the International Space Station today. It is a privileged elitist club that excludes China completely. To them, who needs China when we have the ISS to ourselves.....And just look at their anime and games such as Xenoblade Chronicles X on how they look up to the United States. That will only change when China's official nominal GDP size and military power (navy and air force) exceeds the USA. Seriously, I can still feel the superiority complex coming from the Japanese.

The Japanese are biligerent and stubborn people, just like Indians, albeit much smarter than Indians and their superiority-complex comes from snobbery, whereas Indian's, unwarranted, self-confidence comes from a place of pure ignorance.

Japanese and Indians only respect power and more specifically, when it is used against them to conquer them and enslave them, i.e. Yanks and the Brits. China does not need Japan or Indian cooperation to continue to grow. China just needs to continue to grow its economy, and keep advancing its military. China should focus on matching USA, as an initial target, and then over time, far exceed any country, militarily. Only then, should China teach rabid dogs like Japan and India a good lesson in humility.

 

[Huan]

i can feel the hidden inferiority complex from your post

Just a friendly sympathy for the Chinese since China is having a major impact on the world stage with its growing military and economic might. Despite being excluded from the club, China is one of the top 3 superpowers in the world.

 

[+4vsgorillas-Apebane]

Accountability.

Justice

Truth

The Japanese are not interested. They hope to escape the shame of the past by forgetting, gas lighting, and white washing their history.

Thus no rapprochement. Deep down they know they are fcuked and that Chinese have a very long memory.