The Need of Sino-Japanese Correspondence in the 21st Century: Is there an Empirical Validation ?

[j20blackdragon]

If/when a US-China war heats up, Japan will be the one getting hit by missiles.

Japanese members on this forum need to understand this.

At the end of the day, Japan is an island nation with no natural resources. Japan imports about 60 percent of its food each year. Japan needs to import various commodities and energy to keep its industries going. This is especially true after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster with regard to energy imports. Japan has no nuclear weapons and a very limited expeditionary force due to its pacifist constitution. Therefore, if sea-lanes are closed due to war, Japan loses. If China launches missiles all throughout the first island chain, Japan loses.

So my message to the Japanese people is very simple. It is in your best interest to maintain peace and stability throughout East Asia. China can't lose a war because we can always fall back on nuclear weapons and our strong geographical position on the mainland. China has the world's largest army. If China needs arable land, we can annex Southeast Asia. If we need oil and natural gas, we can annex Central Asia. By the way, China has the world's largest shale gas reserves. Japan is stuck on an island. So you need to think long and hard before you do something stupid.

China will have the largest PPP economy at the end of 2014.

GDP, PPP (current international $) | Data | Table

Do you really want an economic giant like this as your enemy located right next door to you?

 

[Aepsilons]

1). Lead the creation of an East Asian Free Trade Agreement between China, Korea, and Japan to mirror NAFTA, and thus create an embryonic trading bloc to rival ASEAN, NAFTA, and the EU.

This actually is very ideal, in the sense that this process refers to the neofunctionalism theory. The eventual integration of the Northeast Asia through peaceful political and economic collaboration. One thing that I have always admired about ASEAN is that the organization allows each member nation to have their independence, but the organization allows foreign ministers of member nations to have annual meetings to discuss issues of concern. Lastly, the organization is useful in calming instances of military exigency. I would like to cite the example of the 2010 -2011 Preah Vihear Temple Conflict between Thailand and Cambodia, which was relatively calmed through diplomatic channels and at the urging of ASEAN.

The creation of an Association of Northeast Asian Nations (ANEAN) would include People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan and possibly Mongolia. As you had mentioned, a creation of a Free Trade Agreement would actually be beneficial for all member states. In fact it would could be used as a conduit to bring territorial issues to resolution, and allow greater people to people interaction. This sounds like a noble , ideal goal.

2). Propose to Japan the creation of a "Truth and Reconciliation" committee, modeled on South Africa's, to research and delineate an agreed-upon version of history that would be incorporated into all three countries' school textbooks. This would finally put to rest the "textbook wars" and help these countries finally put their history in the past, and enable a more forward-looking approach.

Noted. Agreed. One thing that I admired about South Africa's "Ubuntu" concept was that it allowed the reconciliation between the Black South Africans and the White South Africans, allowed the nation to heal said wounds that were caused during the Apartheid era. I would also like to expand on your suggestion by saying that Japan should do the following to help mend ties:

1. Remove the 14 Class A War Criminals from the Yasukuni Shrine, and place them on a different grave.
   
2. Reiterate the final resolution of the Sex Slaves Issues in both Korea and China.
   
3. Commemorate a Trilateral Peace Monument as a sign of everlasting peace between Japan, China and the Koreas
4. Address all historical inaccuracies and implement a resolution that is acceptable to all parties

3). Set up a joint governmental research fund (again, with both Japan and Korea) to promote joint R&D between the universities and corporations of East Asia.

This sounds like a noble idea; in fact, I would add that JAXA and CNSA should also cooperate with each other.Why not even bring in NASA, too?

4). Propose a formal status-quo agreement with Japan, whereby disputed territory will be mutually recognized as such, but status-quo administrative facts on the ground will not be challenged for, say, 30 years in the hope that friendlier diplomatic relations in the future would facilitate a diplomatic solution. This would be backed by a joint sovereign wealth fund, administered by a neutral third party (the UN?), and sufficiently large that it would serve as effective collateral if either of the parties broke this agreement--i.e. an M&A-style break-up fee.

Agreed, and I had alluded to this in my post on the 2012 Maritime Row between Japan and China:
The Need of Sino-Japanese Correspondence in the 21st Century: Is there an Empirical Validation ? | Page 3

Is this a possible scenario, or is it pure fantasy?

Very well written points, @LeveragedBuyout.

At the end of the day, Japan is an island nation with no natural resources. Japan imports about 60 percent of its food each year. Japan needs to import various commodities and energy to keep its industries going. This is especially true after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster with regard to energy imports. Japan has no nuclear weapons and a very limited expeditionary force due to its pacifist constitution. Therefore, if sea-lanes are closed due to war, Japan loses. If China launches missiles all throughout the first island chain, Japan loses.

So my message to the Japanese people is very simple. It is in your best interest to maintain peace and stability throughout East Asia. China can't lose a war because we can always fall back on nuclear weapons and our strong geographical position on the mainland. China has the world's largest army. If China needs arable land, we can annex Southeast Asia. If we need oil and natural gas, we can annex Central Asia. By the way, China has the world's largest shale gas reserves. Japan is stuck on an island. So you need to think long and hard before you do something stupid.

I'm very sure most of the nations in Northeast Asia as well as Southeast Asia , which have interests in maintaining close relations with China, all know of China's military capabilities (conventional to strategic forces). Definitely there is emphasis to work with each other. You're welcome to read over postings in this thread that emphasizes this. War, afterall, serves no one's interests. Neither the Chinese, Japanese or Americans.

 

[octopusonhead]

I'm very sure most of the nations in Northeast Asia as well as Southeast Asia , which have interests in maintaining close relations with China, all know of China's military capabilities (conventional to strategic forces). Definitely there is emphasis to work with each other. You're welcome to read over postings in this thread that emphasizes this. War, afterall, serves no one's interests. Neither the Chinese, Japanese or Americans.

War actually serves many interests, the military industrial complex would benefit enormously from more wars. And all the owners and shareholders of the corporations producing weapons would thus benefit.

 

[Aepsilons]

War actually serves many interests, the military industrial complex would benefit enormously from more wars. And all the owners and shareholders of the corporations producing weapons would thus benefit.

War would serve the interests of minority industries, such as defense firms, which is a minority case when compared to the predictive collapse of inter-regional trade amongst affected parties. The bilateral trade between China and the United States stands at $579 Billion. The bilateral trade between Japan and China stands at $320 Billion. The bilateral trade between Japan and the United States stands at $290 Billion. The combined trilateral trade between Japan - China - United States stands at $1.189 Trillion per year. This would practically collapse in the event of war. Do you not agree that it benefits these three nations and the overall generation population of the United States, Japan and China to forgo war and focus on peaceful development? I think so. In absence of war, there are innovative developments in R&D of science, humanities, increase people to people interaction. And the flowering of human innovation, creativity,...life.

To Life ! As what my Hebrew friends say in their jovial parties, "L'chaim ! Shalom !"

 

[kalu_miah]

@Nihonjin1051 excellent thread full of thoughtful posts.

With due respect bro, I agree with some of the other posters that a "comprehensive cooperative arrangement" between Japan-China may not work in the short and medium term, but keeping the long term in sight, ANEAN and making progress and limiting damage in the economic cooperation front will always be good idea for both countries.

Why that is so? I think a nation such as Japan or Germany accepts "comprehensive cooperation" only after a defeat, either in a war or by some other means without a war. That is why there is great cooperation between Japan and the US, or Germany and the US. Currently there is competition between the US and China and Japan and China. There is economic cooperation between these competitors, but it does not extend to military and strategic cooperation, for obvious reason, because they are strategic competitors.

The world is going to be muti-polar in the future. The big question is how those poles will be shaped, meaning which countries will team up to form close alliances.

With China's rise, many current alliances will be shifting and new ones will be created, as China builds its blue water navy and expand its power projection abilities.

The West have been global leader for several centuries, but that reality is now slowly fading away, not just because of China, but because every part of the globe is slowly becoming more developed and integrated.

For Japan depending solely on the West for security would not be a good idea any more because of the above. As I see it Japan has two options to strengthen its alliance with other nations, one is ASEAN+2 (Japan+South Korea) arrangement and other other is either the Muslim world or India. India will remain nonaligned for the most part for various reasons, as they need Western military technology, but they cannot afford to join an anti-China alliance. Many Muslim nations also have excellent relations with China. But if West and Japan team up to make a concerted effort to help integrate and stabilize the Muslim world and help it become a pole of its own, it is possible that the Muslim world will side with West and Japan and blunt the effect of China's rise and the resulting predominance in global affairs. The global Muslim population will become 3.3 - 4 billion by the year 2100 AD:
Global Muslim population will exceed 3 billion out of 10 billion by 2100 AD
I however do not expect to see such wisdom coming from the West and its leadership, may be Japan can take the lead in this and change their mind. I have confidence that Japanese people can accomplish a lot, if they put their mind to it, specially when their back is against the wall.

 

[LeveragedBuyout]

War would serve the interests of minority industries, such as defense firms, which is a minority case when compared to the predictive collapse of inter-regional trade amongst affected parties. The bilateral trade between China and the United States stands at $579 Billion. The bilateral trade between Japan and China stands at $320 Billion. The bilateral trade between Japan and the United States stands at $290 Billion. The combined trilateral trade between Japan - China - United States stands at $1.189 Trillion per year. This would practically collapse in the event of war. Do you not agree that it benefits these three nations and the overall generation population of the United States, Japan and China to forgo war and focus on peaceful development? I think so. In absence of war, there are innovative developments in R&D of science, humanities, increase people to people interaction. And the flowering of human innovation, creativity,...life.

To Life ! As what my Hebrew friends say in their jovial parties, "L'chaim ! Shalom !"

This is the most important point, the one that the ultras always ignore. War is bad for business, and there's a reason why there hasn't been a war between major trading partners since WWII (at least not in the top 50 economies). China would be economically devastated by war. Besides, why do the ultras always assume that China strikes, and then nothing happens to China?

Fortunately, cooler heads (and smarter) govern China.

 

[Brainsucker]

If/when a US-China war heats up, Japan will be the one getting hit by missiles.

View attachment 98013

View attachment 98014

Japanese members on this forum need to understand this.

At the end of the day, Japan is an island nation with no natural resources. Japan imports about 60 percent of its food each year. Japan needs to import various commodities and energy to keep its industries going. This is especially true after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster with regard to energy imports. Japan has no nuclear weapons and a very limited expeditionary force due to its pacifist constitution. Therefore, if sea-lanes are closed due to war, Japan loses. If China launches missiles all throughout the first island chain, Japan loses.

So my message to the Japanese people is very simple. It is in your best interest to maintain peace and stability throughout East Asia. China can't lose a war because we can always fall back on nuclear weapons and our strong geographical position on the mainland. China has the world's largest army. If China needs arable land, we can annex Southeast Asia. If we need oil and natural gas, we can annex Central Asia. By the way, China has the world's largest shale gas reserves. Japan is stuck on an island. So you need to think long and hard before you do something stupid.

China will have the largest PPP economy at the end of 2014.

GDP, PPP (current international $) | Data | Table

Do you really want an economic giant like this as your enemy located right next door to you?

You know, there are two kind of strong man in this world. A hero who always protect the others with his power, and a devil who spread fear with his strength. In modern world relation like today, It is the best for everyone to be act like a hero; and not a devil. Japan and German lost in WW2 because they were the villain of the world. They were over confident with their power, and act like a devil who spread fear to their neighborhood. I bet you already know how devil they were in WW2, and they lost.

So now I tell you, that your post is basically just help your government to portray themselves as a devil. It is bad for your government. Because China, who now is rising in power should portray themselves as a hero, not a devil. You, if consider yourself as a patriot of your country should help your government with a good image.

For one, I agree with you that Japan won't be able to beat China on their own (even if they have nuclear weapons at their disposal). Because it's simple. Their land mass is much-much smaller than you. Even if both countries trade off nuclear strike, you still have some land to live, despite your country is wasted by nuclear strike. But Japan is not. Their land mass is smaller. So in an event of nuclear war, their people will be forced to leave their country if they don't want to extinct.

So what good you can get by writing a devilish post to threatening our Japanese friends here? You better to become an angel rather than devil It's better for China, far-far better for your country.

 

[octopusonhead]

"War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small 'inside' group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes."

 

[Genesis]

This actually is very ideal, in the sense that this process refers to the neofunctionalism theory. The eventual integration of the Northeast Asia through peaceful political and economic collaboration. One thing that I have always admired about ASEAN is that the organization allows each member nation to have their independence, but the organization allows foreign ministers of member nations to have annual meetings to discuss issues of concern. Lastly, the organization is useful in calming instances of military exigency. I would like to cite the example of the 2010 -2011 Preah Vihear Temple Conflict between Thailand and Cambodia, which was relatively calmed through diplomatic channels and at the urging of ASEAN.

The creation of an Association of Northeast Asian Nations (ANEAN) would include People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan and possibly Mongolia. As you had mentioned, a creation of a Free Trade Agreement would actually be beneficial for all member states. In fact it would could be used as a conduit to bring territorial issues to resolution, and allow greater people to people interaction. This sounds like a noble , ideal goal.

Taiwan, is China, I'm sure you know why today Taiwan is "independent," and why it is different than even our claims on the seas.

As to this organization, don't think so, not while we haven't sort out the issues yet. ASEAN has a clear dominate nation, though it's influence is not very noticeable in Indonesia. they can't actually impose their will on other nations, but they are the backbone of said organization.

Now would the Japanese leadership accept China as that, or could Japanese leaders make Japan into a nation that can do this.

Sounds like the same tone, but this is the biggest stumbling block, everything else is fine.

Noted. Agreed. One thing that I admired about South Africa's "Ubuntu" concept was that it allowed the reconciliation between the Black South Africans and the White South Africans, allowed the nation to heal said wounds that were caused during the Apartheid era. I would also like to expand on your suggestion by saying that Japan should do the following to help mend ties:

1. Remove the 14 Class A War Criminals from the Yasukuni Shrine, and place them on a different grave.
   
2. Reiterate the final resolution of the Sex Slaves Issues in both Korea and China.
   
3. Commemorate a Trilateral Peace Monument as a sign of everlasting peace between Japan, China and the Koreas
4. Address all historical inaccuracies and implement a resolution that is acceptable to all parties

This sounds like a noble idea; in fact, I would add that JAXA and CNSA should also cooperate with each other.Why not even bring in NASA, too?

NASA is embargoing us remember. But that's fine, when our space station go up, they can't come and play either.

1. You put them there, we didn't put them there. So it's entirely up to you.
2. This isn't as important to us as it is to Korea. In fact we really don't care.
3. easily done, I'm sure there are some form of this already.
4. You do know what this would mean right.....

Agreed, and I had alluded to this in my post on the 2012 Maritime Row between Japan and China:
The Need of Sino-Japanese Correspondence in the 21st Century: Is there an Empirical Validation ? | Page 3



Very well written points, @LeveragedBuyout.

The past is the past, it doesn't work today because the Japan of 2008 still exist in 2014, but the China of 2008 doesn't exist in 2014.

Between Japan and China someone's got to give, who would make the gesture, depends who's coming from a position of absolute weakness or strength. Neither exist right now, China is stronger, but not by much, Japan is weaker but also not by much, so we need to keep waiting until something changes significantly, or else no one's willing to give.

China compromising now looks from a position of weakness, and Japan looks like it's surrendering, so both of us are out of options really, until a more dramatic change in the power balance.

I'm very sure most of the nations in Northeast Asia as well as Southeast Asia , which have interests in maintaining close relations with China, all know of China's military capabilities (conventional to strategic forces). Definitely there is emphasis to work with each other. You're welcome to read over postings in this thread that emphasizes this. War, afterall, serves no one's interests. Neither the Chinese, Japanese or Americans.

Actually I'm fairly certain, nobody in those nations quite understand what they are up against. People see weak against subs and thus Vietnam's subs should play right? Hell no, Americans subs sure, but Vietnam's subs face too many challenges, for one it's too close and it's endurance is limited due to being conventional and thus exposed. Second, China has 16 active type 56 and 17 type 54, these are great sub hunters, mostly we got a lot of them. Type 56 will eventually reach 50, in about 3-4 years then we will see if we make more or switch class. Then we need to take into account 20 more type 54B or 57, which will be started next year or end of this.

China is testing several class of anti sub helicopters and planes, these will also have a role to play in the future. Bottomline, anti sub warfare is being addressed not today, or maybe not even 10 years from now but it is.

These nations read that China is having problems, so naturally they should be able to exploit it, but only against America, and unfortunately your damn quiet subs.


Let me just say this, does Aquino III give you the impression he's the commander in chief of exactly 2 1960s "war" ship? No he sounds like he's the Crusading force crushing the infidels.

Then every Vietnam India article I read and it's the 100 million and patrol boats, since when did India make better weapons than us that can do just as much as we could or make complete weapon systems period, and what could be done with 100 million, other than not much.

 

[Brainsucker]

@Genesis : It's not NASA who embargoing you they want to join force with China in exploring the final frontier It is their congress who make the thing difficult. Poor NASA.

 

[somsak]

Asia needs long peace to catch up with the west. Asia also need US pressure to catch up fast.

 

[Oldman1]

If/when a US-China war heats up, Japan will be the one getting hit by missiles.

View attachment 98013

View attachment 98014

Japanese members on this forum need to understand this.

At the end of the day, Japan is an island nation with no natural resources. Japan imports about 60 percent of its food each year. Japan needs to import various commodities and energy to keep its industries going. This is especially true after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster with regard to energy imports. Japan has no nuclear weapons and a very limited expeditionary force due to its pacifist constitution. Therefore, if sea-lanes are closed due to war, Japan loses. If China launches missiles all throughout the first island chain, Japan loses.

So my message to the Japanese people is very simple. It is in your best interest to maintain peace and stability throughout East Asia. China can't lose a war because we can always fall back on nuclear weapons and our strong geographical position on the mainland. China has the world's largest army. If China needs arable land, we can annex Southeast Asia. If we need oil and natural gas, we can annex Central Asia. By the way, China has the world's largest shale gas reserves. Japan is stuck on an island. So you need to think long and hard before you do something stupid.

China will have the largest PPP economy at the end of 2014.

GDP, PPP (current international $) | Data | Table

Do you really want an economic giant like this as your enemy located right next door to you?

Considering that those same bases are close to China. China is the one to get hit by missiles. Not to mentioned surface ships, submarines and long range bombers.

 

[j20blackdragon]

China isn't getting hit by anything once GPS has been destroyed. If you use nuclear weapons, we all die together.

------------------------------------------------

Analysis points to China's work on new anti-satellite weapon

By Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON Mon Mar 17, 2014 6:07pm EDT

(Reuters) - A detailed analysis of satellite imagery published Monday provides additional evidence that a Chinese rocket launch in May 2013 billed as a research mission was actually a test of a new anti-satellite weapon based on a road-mobile ballistic missile.

Brian Weeden, a former U.S. Air Force space analyst, published a 47-page analysis on the website of The Space Review, which he said showed that China appears to be testing a kinetic interceptor launched by a new rocket that could reach geostationary orbit about 36,000 km (22,500 miles) above the earth.

"If true, this would represent a significant development in China's anti-satellite (ASAT) capabilities," wrote Weeden, now a technical adviser for Secure World Foundation, a Colorado-based nonprofit focused on secure and peaceful uses of outer space.

"No other country has tested a direct ascent ASAT weapon system that has the potential to reach deep space satellites in medium earth orbit, highly elliptical orbit or geostationary orbit," he wrote, referring to orbital paths that are above 2,000 km (1,250 miles) over the earth.

The article includes a previously undisclosed satellite image taken by DigitalGlobe Inc that shows a mobile missile launcher, or "transporter-erector-launcher" (TEL) at China's Xichang missile launch site. A TEL is used for mobile ground launches of ballistic missiles instead of a fixed pad.

Given the new imagery and the absence of a different rocket at the Xichang site that could have carried out the 2013 launch, Weeden said there was now "substantial evidence" that China was developing a second anti-satellite weapon in addition to the previously known system designated as SC-19 by U.S. agencies.

Analysis points to China's work on new anti-satellite weapon| Reuters

 

[Aepsilons]

@Genesis : It's not NASA who embargoing you they want to join force with China in exploring the final frontier It is their congress who make the thing difficult. Poor NASA.

That's what I don't understand. The cooperation of NASA and CNSA would yield so much better results in projects, let alone allow a mechanism that would split cost of ventures. I mean, NASA already cooperates with FKA, so I don't understand why there is so much partiality towards CNSA.

China isn't getting hit by anything once GPS has been destroyed. If you use nuclear weapons, we all die together.

Fortunately for all of us, cooler heads prevail in the American, Chinese and Japanese Leadership. War is a bloody business that neither our people and government would benefit from.

 

[AgentOrange]

The Need of Sino-Japanese Correspondence in the 21st Century: Is there an Empirical Validation ?
View attachment 92732​

By: @Nihonjin1051, Ph.Dc, M.S. ​

I. The Historical Link between Japan and China

View attachment 92733

The history of Japan and China has is long as well as it is being intertwined through the economic trade, cultural transmission, political and philosophical influence. China has had a direct pivotal role in helping mold and form the early Japanese identity which stems back to the Chinese ancient text known as the Book of Later Han. In this text, Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty provided a golden seal to the early Yamato Clan. In fact this golden seal is referred to In Japan as the King of Na gold seal, and is held in a museum in the Japanese island of Kyushu in commemoration of this ancient political link between both civilizations. During the 7th century AD, the Imperial Japanese Court had initiated what is known as the Taika Reform.

The Taika reform encouraged Japan to build embassies in China as a way to establish proper diplomatic and political rapprochement between the said two entities, and this allowed Japanese students to go study in China. These students that had spent time in China’s Imperial Court and Chinese schools of philosophies allowed them to absorb new information back to Japan. It was through the Taika Reform that Japan brought back teachings of Buddhism, bureaucratic reforms, architectural traits, urban planning traits as well as Imperial court customs – which were then integrated into Japanese culture. One important and lingering Chinese imprint into Japanese society and culture is in the written language; the Japanese Kanji system is based on the Chinese classical characters known as Hanzi. There is , indeed, a cultural and historical commonality.

II. The Dynamic of Japan’s Interaction with East Asia

View attachment 92734

“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”

-George Orwell
​

The above aforementioned quote by Orwell takes into consideration how the future is influenced by the past events, and this is a poignant quotation in context of the Japanese and Chinese Equation. The history between Japan and China stretches back over 2 millennia, with formal representation taking place during the beginning of the 8th Century A.D. when Japanese Embassies were created throughout China as well as vice versa.

The marked cross straits interaction between Japan and China was positive with only four militant events; the 12th century war with the Yuan Dynasty and the subsequent attempts of the Mongols to invade Japan, the second was the 16th century Imjin War wherein the forces of Japan under the leadership of Hideyoshi Toyotomi, who was appointed as Kampaku or the Imperial Chancellor and thus the personal hand of the Emperor of Japan. Hideyoshi, who was named Daijo-daijin (Chief Minister) , initiated the unification of Japan and then subsequent mandate to conquer Korea with the goal to acquire the prize of China. The demise of Hideyoshi had led to the collapse of the struggle to conquer Korea , forcing a general retreat of Japanese forces from the Korean peninsula back into Japan proper , and thus would begin a dormant and introverted closed door policy. The 19th century ended with a brutal war between Imperial Japan and Qing Dynasty China known as the 1st Sino-Japanese War, which lasted from 1894 to 1895. The last conflict between China and Japan was the 2nd Sino-Japanese War, which ended in 1945.

The war left deep scars in both China and Japan. The sensitivities of domestic politics in China regarding Japan’s 2014 Collective Defense Principle and re-militarization is historically driven. Japanese should be more considerate of these reactions by the Chinese and approach the issue with an attempt to understand the psychology of the Chinese side and refrain from a defensive posture when reading Chinese media reaction.

III. Approaching China from a Cooperative Position

View attachment 92735

It is important to focus on the positive developments, particularly when contrasting them with the tensions and the anti-Japanese demonstrations in China during the five years of the Koizumi era and also recently during the beginning of the Administration of Prime Minister Abe. In Japan there is a conviction that China very much needs Japan; be it to protect its foreign image as a peacefully developing country, to maintain its export and FDI-dependent economy, to reduce its energy consumption, to help cope with its environmental problems and that China is open to seeking compromise. Whether or not this is true or not, one thing that Chinese leaders and strategic planners should take into consideration is that Japan has a positive outlook towards China and maintains a policy of cooperation, eager almost, with China.

There are themes that Japan and China can both work on , ranging from Cross Straits Cooperation on Taiwan, addressing the claims in the East China Sea, as well as understanding and working with each other on China’s Ascendancy.

The disputes in the East China Sea are about the sovereignty of the Senkaku Islands (which is known by the Chinese as the Diayutai Islands) and the Exclusive Economic Zone between China and Japan, and the rivaling Air Defense Identification Zones of Japan and China. The solution of the EEZ issue between both countries is closely related to the sovereignty dispute as well as to an EEZ agreement between China and Kore and the ones with Japan and Korea, where there is rivaling claims in the norther part of the East China Sea. According to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continent Shelf, there must be cooperation between the Governments of South Korea, Japan and China to declare the EEZ limits. In regards to the Senkaku Islands, Japan claims that there is no sovereignty dispute because it is in the comfortable position of having de facto control over them, which is refuted by China. Both countries also apply different principles to determine EEZ border between them. It is apparent that these issues are within the forefront of political contention between Tokyo and Beijing.

These issues just discussed have to be put in the context of the growing economic competition and political rivalry of the two countries. The phenomenal growth of China’s economy, which also owes a lot to Japan, had led to increased competition. While trade between the two countries in the 1980s was dominated by China selling natural resources and semi-finished products to Japan, trade is increasingly becoming an exchange of processed and manufactured goods, at an ever-increasing level of sophistication. Although Japan is still an important foreign direct investor in China, since the beginning of the new century, China had started, on a very modest scale, to invest in Japan. This is in order to acquire technology, brands, market access and marketing skills and includes the acquisition of distressed medium-sized Japanese companies. Both Japan and China have cross-straits vested interests within each other, ranging from domestic investment, which is now over $320 Billion.

China’s rise has undoubtedly presented new challenges to Japan and these have been articulated as part of the so called ‘China Threat’ discourse. That China threat debate is a broad term that generally refers to the popular academic discussions of the ways in which China posed potential risks to Japanese economic, security, and political interests. However, the discussion went beyond traditional military threat perceptions based on measurement of intentions and capabilities and encapsulated concerns about new uncertainties posed by China’s rapid development and modernization and how to respond to them.

To address these issues, Japanese leaders are now espousing Sino-Japanese policy consultation and coordination as a way to preserve regional peace and stability, such as in the Korean Peninsula, and as a way to abate any tensions between both countries’ EEZ claims and ADIZ claims. The contention is surmountable. We have to remember that in October 1992, Emperor Akihito of Japan had visited China, suggesting that the mistrust between China and Japan is surmountable and that the legacy of the past can be transcended by the two countries’ common interests. It is also important to recognize the special importance that Japan has attached to its relationship with China, despite the vagaries of politics. This said, development of greater rapprochements between Japan and China in the Taiwan issue, and economic commonalities will benefit both sides. The expected communication between China’s Xi Jinping and Japan’s Shinzo Abe will present opportunities for both sides to address common interests, as well as initiate mechanisms that will allow both Japan and China to find solutions to areas of disagreement.

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Drifte, R. (2009). The Future of the Japanese-Chinese Relationship: The Case for a Grand Political Bargain.

Asia-Pacific Review, 16(2), 55-74. doi:10.1080/13439000903371668​

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On Country Image. Social Behavior And Personality, 42(1), 89-96. ​

杉浦//康之. (2009). 中国の「日本中立化」政策と対日情勢認識--日本社会党の訪中と日本国内の反米・反岸闘争

の相互連鎖(1958年6月～1959年6月). 近きに在りて, (56), 51-67. ​

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Wow! Impressive. Cheers buddy.