Sino-Japanese relations are at a critical juncture -- the often-tense relationship between Japan and China appears to be worsening, even as Japan's trade with China surpassed its trade with the U.S. in 2004 and China now is Japan's biggest trade partner. While economic ties between "China Inc." and "Japan Inc." may be warming, the possibilities of political confrontation and an arms race between the two Asian giants are becoming increasingly real.
Some analysts now worry that Asia is not big enough for both China and Japan: "You can not have two tigers prowling in one forest." Others counter that China and Japan can cooperate, acting as the "dual engines" of development. Still others take the middle ground, arguing that relations between the two East Asian giants will be marked by the coexistence of both cooperation and conflict.
Theoretical debates aside, to most Chinese, Japan represents a paradigmatic "devil," not only because of the brutality of Japanese imperialism and the sheer number of Chinese killed by Japanese troops in the 1930s and 1940s, but also because there is the perceived insolence of "little brother" Japan's offensive behavior toward "big brother" China.
Indeed, a deep-rooted and popular anti-Japanese enmity is re-emerging in China, especially among the young. Gao Hong, a Chinese researcher on Japan, said he was shocked when confronted with an outpouring of questions in an online forum about China's relations with Japan. "Over 4,000 questions were posted for me in just two hours," Gao said. "Many of the questions in the discussion were tendentious. One Internet user asked me why we don't just declare war on Japan."
While Chinese authorities have shut down many anti-Japanese Web sites, it now is common in chat rooms to read posters referring to "little Japs" and smearing Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in insulting language.
Sino-Japanese "amity" is hardly enhanced by the recent development in Sino-Japanese bilateral relations. In September 2004, 400 Japanese businessmen hired as many as 500 Chinese prostitutes for a weekend sex party at a hotel in Zhuhai, a Chinese city not far from Hong Kong. Occurring on the 72nd anniversary of the 1931 Mukden Incident that led to the Japanese occupation of Manchuria, 90 percent of Chinese respondents to an Internet poll said they believed that the Japanese businessmen had intended to humiliate China.
Then in November 2004, a Chinese nuclear submarine encroached into Japanese waters. Two week later, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao snubbed Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi's invitation to visit his country. When Tokyo decided in December to ignore China's strong protests and allow former Taiwanese president Lee Teng-hui to visit, China lashed out at its neighbor, threatening retaliation.
As open hostility toward Japan is becoming prevalent among Chinese, it is met by an emergent Japanese nationalism that argues Japan should take a much stronger position in dealing with China and develop its military capability. In the early morning of Feb. 9, 2005, Tokyo took an unexpectedly bold action and informed the Chinese that Japan will take formal possession of a tiny archipelago in the Pacific waters -- the Senkaku Islands. Effective immediately, Tokyo announced, the Senkaku would be administered by the Japanese coast guard. "It is time Japan began protecting what is ours," says Makoto Yamazaki, director of the Japan Youth Association, "If our sovereignty is being threatened, we have a right to defend ourselves."
To add a final straw to the camel's back, in the most significant alteration since the end of the Cold War to the U.S.-Japan Security Alliance, Japan declared its readiness to join the Bush administration in identifying security in the Taiwan Strait as a "common strategic objective." Analysts called the move -- Japan and the U.S. to align over Taiwan -- a demonstration of Japan's willingness to confront the rapidly growing might of China. "It would be wrong for us to send a signal to China that the United States and Japan will watch and tolerate China's military invasion of Taiwan," said Shinzo Abe, the secretary general of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
This deteriorating political situation between Beijing and Tokyo seriously complicates on-going "Six Party" talks over North Korea's nuclear weapons and of course, cross-straits relations between China and Taiwan. We are witnessing the emergence of a new and dangerous political fault line in East Asia.
Dr. Xiaoxiong Yi is a professor at Marietta College and Director of East Asia Initiatives.
Some analysts now worry that Asia is not big enough for both China and Japan: "You can not have two tigers prowling in one forest." Others counter that China and Japan can cooperate, acting as the "dual engines" of development. Still others take the middle ground, arguing that relations between the two East Asian giants will be marked by the coexistence of both cooperation and conflict.
Theoretical debates aside, to most Chinese, Japan represents a paradigmatic "devil," not only because of the brutality of Japanese imperialism and the sheer number of Chinese killed by Japanese troops in the 1930s and 1940s, but also because there is the perceived insolence of "little brother" Japan's offensive behavior toward "big brother" China.
Indeed, a deep-rooted and popular anti-Japanese enmity is re-emerging in China, especially among the young. Gao Hong, a Chinese researcher on Japan, said he was shocked when confronted with an outpouring of questions in an online forum about China's relations with Japan. "Over 4,000 questions were posted for me in just two hours," Gao said. "Many of the questions in the discussion were tendentious. One Internet user asked me why we don't just declare war on Japan."
While Chinese authorities have shut down many anti-Japanese Web sites, it now is common in chat rooms to read posters referring to "little Japs" and smearing Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in insulting language.
Sino-Japanese "amity" is hardly enhanced by the recent development in Sino-Japanese bilateral relations. In September 2004, 400 Japanese businessmen hired as many as 500 Chinese prostitutes for a weekend sex party at a hotel in Zhuhai, a Chinese city not far from Hong Kong. Occurring on the 72nd anniversary of the 1931 Mukden Incident that led to the Japanese occupation of Manchuria, 90 percent of Chinese respondents to an Internet poll said they believed that the Japanese businessmen had intended to humiliate China.
Then in November 2004, a Chinese nuclear submarine encroached into Japanese waters. Two week later, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao snubbed Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi's invitation to visit his country. When Tokyo decided in December to ignore China's strong protests and allow former Taiwanese president Lee Teng-hui to visit, China lashed out at its neighbor, threatening retaliation.
As open hostility toward Japan is becoming prevalent among Chinese, it is met by an emergent Japanese nationalism that argues Japan should take a much stronger position in dealing with China and develop its military capability. In the early morning of Feb. 9, 2005, Tokyo took an unexpectedly bold action and informed the Chinese that Japan will take formal possession of a tiny archipelago in the Pacific waters -- the Senkaku Islands. Effective immediately, Tokyo announced, the Senkaku would be administered by the Japanese coast guard. "It is time Japan began protecting what is ours," says Makoto Yamazaki, director of the Japan Youth Association, "If our sovereignty is being threatened, we have a right to defend ourselves."
To add a final straw to the camel's back, in the most significant alteration since the end of the Cold War to the U.S.-Japan Security Alliance, Japan declared its readiness to join the Bush administration in identifying security in the Taiwan Strait as a "common strategic objective." Analysts called the move -- Japan and the U.S. to align over Taiwan -- a demonstration of Japan's willingness to confront the rapidly growing might of China. "It would be wrong for us to send a signal to China that the United States and Japan will watch and tolerate China's military invasion of Taiwan," said Shinzo Abe, the secretary general of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
This deteriorating political situation between Beijing and Tokyo seriously complicates on-going "Six Party" talks over North Korea's nuclear weapons and of course, cross-straits relations between China and Taiwan. We are witnessing the emergence of a new and dangerous political fault line in East Asia.
Dr. Xiaoxiong Yi is a professor at Marietta College and Director of East Asia Initiatives.
How does your "motherland" not being "unified" affect you in any way, other than in your head?
