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From September 22 to 27， a delegation of the Japan-China Association on Economy and Trade （JCAET）， comprising more than 200 business people and the largest such delegation in history， visited China. When meeting with the delegation， Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang said that China hopes to restart the high-level economic dialogue between the two countries soon， but Japan should show sincerity on historical and territorial issues.
The rightward shift of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration has resulted in the present stalemate in China-Japan relations. Within this context， the visit of the JCAET delegation this time around may augur well for a thawing in the relationship between China and Japan， for a number of reasons.
First， though JCAET delegations visit China annually， its objective this year was different from years previous. The ultimate goal of the visit on this occasion was seeking solutions to the present deadlock and creating conditions necessary for a China-Japan leaders’ meeting during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ meeting in Beijing in November， tasks with which the Abe administration entrusted the delegation. Compared to previous visits， the larger scale of the delegation this time was redolent of the fact that people in Japan， at least within the nation’s business circles， aspire to improving the state of China-Japan relationship as soon as possible.
Second， for China， a souring China-Japan relationship runs contrary to China’s good neighborhood policy. As China and Japan represent massive economic powerhouses in Asia， as well as being the world’s second and third largest economies respectively， it is clear that cooperation benefits both countries while confrontation can only hurt their collective interests. What China pursues is the development of its economy and the improvement of its people’s livelihood， and this objective does not look set to change in the foreseeable future.
Third， in the past， when China-Japan political relations were interrupted by Japanese leaders’ erroneous claims about its wartime history， their economic relations were seldom affected， but this time the situation is totally different. In the past two years， China-Japan bilateral trade volume has shown continuous decline on a consecutive monthly basis， a rare occurrence in history over the past three decades. This trend is surely not in the fundamental interests of the people of either country. Thus， to demonstrate goodwill toward the desire to improve bilateral relations as signified by the JCAET delegation’s China visit， the Chinese side positively responded by proposing the reconvening of the bilateral high-level economic dialogue， which is in and of itself a very encouraging signal. Owing to the fact that their economies have a high level of mutual complementarity， China’s huge market could help drag Japan out of its present economic mire while Japan’s investment and cutting-edge technologies could in turn bring vitality to the Chinese economy. However， the present practices of the Abe administration have rendered this vision of mutually beneficial cooperation a very distant prospect indeed.
Whether or not there will be Sino-Japanese leaders’ meeting during the APEC leaders’ meeting this year will not be completely decided by China but in part by the sincerity and good faith shown by the Abe administration. The current stalemate in China-Japan relationship has undoubtedly been instigated by Japan’s rightwing forces. In spite of this， not only has the Abe administration failed to do anything to curb the rightward political trend in Japan， it has also worked in collusion with the same right-wing forces in the country in relation to territorial and historical issues that explicitly concern China. The stance of the Abe administration over the issues is unacceptable to China.
Though Abe has gone so far as to overtly signal a willingness to engage in dialogue with top Chinese leaders， he demonstrated little sincerity in doing so. He has neither given up his practice of engaging in hard-line confrontation with China nor desisted from making inflammatory and insensitive speeches regarding historical issues very close to Chinese people’s hearts. Thus， should the Abe administration continue to stubbornly maintain its rightward stance， the efforts of the business circles toward improvement of bilateral relations will be all for naught.
The JCAET delegation’s latest China tour has conclusively demonstrated the popular will of the Japanese people for improvement of bilateral relations. Meanwhile， the Chinese side has also clearly expressed its attitude with a positive response. Now， it is the turn of Abe. What is crucial for the improvement of China-Japan relations is that the Abe administration should make changes to its provocative China policy and show sincerity to build mechanisms that manage， control and resolve bilateral disparities together with China.
The rightward shift of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration has resulted in the present stalemate in China-Japan relations. Within this context， the visit of the JCAET delegation this time around may augur well for a thawing in the relationship between China and Japan， for a number of reasons.
First， though JCAET delegations visit China annually， its objective this year was different from years previous. The ultimate goal of the visit on this occasion was seeking solutions to the present deadlock and creating conditions necessary for a China-Japan leaders’ meeting during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ meeting in Beijing in November， tasks with which the Abe administration entrusted the delegation. Compared to previous visits， the larger scale of the delegation this time was redolent of the fact that people in Japan， at least within the nation’s business circles， aspire to improving the state of China-Japan relationship as soon as possible.
Second， for China， a souring China-Japan relationship runs contrary to China’s good neighborhood policy. As China and Japan represent massive economic powerhouses in Asia， as well as being the world’s second and third largest economies respectively， it is clear that cooperation benefits both countries while confrontation can only hurt their collective interests. What China pursues is the development of its economy and the improvement of its people’s livelihood， and this objective does not look set to change in the foreseeable future.
Third， in the past， when China-Japan political relations were interrupted by Japanese leaders’ erroneous claims about its wartime history， their economic relations were seldom affected， but this time the situation is totally different. In the past two years， China-Japan bilateral trade volume has shown continuous decline on a consecutive monthly basis， a rare occurrence in history over the past three decades. This trend is surely not in the fundamental interests of the people of either country. Thus， to demonstrate goodwill toward the desire to improve bilateral relations as signified by the JCAET delegation’s China visit， the Chinese side positively responded by proposing the reconvening of the bilateral high-level economic dialogue， which is in and of itself a very encouraging signal. Owing to the fact that their economies have a high level of mutual complementarity， China’s huge market could help drag Japan out of its present economic mire while Japan’s investment and cutting-edge technologies could in turn bring vitality to the Chinese economy. However， the present practices of the Abe administration have rendered this vision of mutually beneficial cooperation a very distant prospect indeed.
Whether or not there will be Sino-Japanese leaders’ meeting during the APEC leaders’ meeting this year will not be completely decided by China but in part by the sincerity and good faith shown by the Abe administration. The current stalemate in China-Japan relationship has undoubtedly been instigated by Japan’s rightwing forces. In spite of this， not only has the Abe administration failed to do anything to curb the rightward political trend in Japan， it has also worked in collusion with the same right-wing forces in the country in relation to territorial and historical issues that explicitly concern China. The stance of the Abe administration over the issues is unacceptable to China.
Though Abe has gone so far as to overtly signal a willingness to engage in dialogue with top Chinese leaders， he demonstrated little sincerity in doing so. He has neither given up his practice of engaging in hard-line confrontation with China nor desisted from making inflammatory and insensitive speeches regarding historical issues very close to Chinese people’s hearts. Thus， should the Abe administration continue to stubbornly maintain its rightward stance， the efforts of the business circles toward improvement of bilateral relations will be all for naught.
The JCAET delegation’s latest China tour has conclusively demonstrated the popular will of the Japanese people for improvement of bilateral relations. Meanwhile， the Chinese side has also clearly expressed its attitude with a positive response. Now， it is the turn of Abe. What is crucial for the improvement of China-Japan relations is that the Abe administration should make changes to its provocative China policy and show sincerity to build mechanisms that manage， control and resolve bilateral disparities together with China.