Nationalism must not mar Japan-China ties

Chihiro Kato The Asahi Shimbun Tokyo

Repercussions continue to spread from the incident last week at the Japanese Consulate General in Shenyang, where asylum seekers apparently from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) were seized and forcibly taken away by armed security police. The complexity of the situation is compounded by the delicate state of affairs on the Korean Peninsula.

Any mishandling by Japan will not only throw cold water on the upcoming events being scheduled to mark the 30th anniversary of the normalization of ties with China, but may also hurt the relationship itself. From the way negotiations have gone so far, an early settlement seems unlikely.

Tokyo and Beijing disagree on the interpretation of the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations, and the parties directly involved have given contradictory accounts of the incident.

But these matters aside, I am disturbed by the "strong reactions" this incident has elicited from the Japanese public- obviously thanks to the shocking video footage, shown repeatedly on television, of the drama unfolding.

One noteworthy fallout from the Shenyang incident, however, is that the ruling and opposition parties have for now put aside their disagreements over emergency military legislation and have joined together in declaring that China has "violated Japan's sovereignty," and that Japan should refuse to back down on its demand for an apology.

In the 1990s, conservative lawmakers, including some younger members of opposition party Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan), were conspicuous for their anti-Chinese statements and actions. Among the issues they complained about were China's military might, the Taiwan situation, disputes over the controversial Japanese history, and Japanese yen loans to China.

Considerable anger was sparked by China's assertiveness in conducting nuclear tests in 1995 and 1996 and firing missiles into the waters off Taiwan during military exercises in 1996.

These actions were in stark contrast to Taiwan's, which was seen as making progress toward democratization.

When Chinese President Jiang Zemin visited Japan in 1998, he was so upset by Japan's failure to include words of apology (for Japan's military behavior during World War II) in the joint communique that he started complaining again about Japan's perception of its own history.

Jiang's attitude annoyed not only the Japanese political community but the public at large as well. While not everyone was exactly anti-Chinese, many Japanese nevertheless began to feel some resentment toward China as a "difficult nation to get along with."

Amid this surge of negative sentiments against China, the Diet began to call for a serious review of Japan's China aid policy. Japan started extending yen loans to China in 1979, after the conclusion of the Japan-China Amity Treaty, with the stated purpose of supporting China's open-door reform policy. The loans have since grown to about 200 billion yen a year.

In fiscal 2001, however, Japan slashed the amount from the previous year's 211.4 billion yen to 161.4 billion yen-a substantial cut of 25 percent. Although the cut had mainly to do with Japan's own economic problems, which forced the nation to spend less on overseas aid, there was no question this was also the result of mounting calls in the Diet to review the nation's China aid policy.

Meantime, level-headed analysts point out that the recent spread of negative feelings about China has less to do with what China has done than what is happening in Japan.

Japan is in serious trouble due to the prolonged recession and the absence of any progress in Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's promised reforms, so the recent phenomenal growth of the Chinese economy throws Japan's problems into high relief.

For the Japanese people, China's sustained, high-level growth is truly to be envied. And while China steadily transforms itself into "the world's factory," Japanese businesses are rushing into the Chinese market, lured by the low cost of labor. This is bound to speed up the hollowing out of Japanese industry, and the Japanese people are worried and apprehensive that their own nation may soon be teeming with jobless workers.

Japan's relations with China were supposed to be relatively stable this year. All sorts of official and grass-roots commemorative events are already lined up to mark the 30th anniversary of the normalization of ties.

However, it would be a dangerous mistake to expect the Shenyang incident to be resolved easily just because this happens to be the 30th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic ties. The issue of the state's sovereignty, which Japan took up in this case, is a vitally important political issue for China, and no easy compromises are possible.

The more determined China proves to be to play hardball, the more likely will Japan be to witness a surge of nationalism-as if to compensate for its loss of self-confidence-and the emergence of hard-line anti-Chinese arguments. But this will fan nationalism in China, too, which in turn will only create more trouble.

Stabilizing the relationship with China is a major diplomatic issue for Japan in this century. But one thing that must be avoided at all costs is any situation in which Japan's nationalism clashes with China's.