Presidential advisor Alice King's (金美齡) return to Taiwan to express support for Yoshinori Kobayashi's (小林善紀) comic book On Taiwan (台灣論) has caused varying reactions. The background to this episode includes a mixture of national interests in maintaining Taiwan-Japan relations and the issue of Japan's historical responsibility. There are many factors underlying the King episode that merit consideration.
First, look at the Japanese political spectrum and how it views Taiwan and China. Politicians with rightist leanings, for example Shintaro Ishihara
As for Japan's historical responsibility for the events of World War II, rightist politicians are more inclined to either avoid the issue or adopt an attitude of "Why does Japan need to apologize?" More leftist politicians think that Japan should take responsibility for past actions by issuing apologies and compensation to the affected Asian nations and to individual victims.
Japan-related issues have been intensely debated in Taiwan for some time. While President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was mayor of Taipei, he changed "retrocession" (Taiwan's return to Chinese rule under the KMT) to "end of the war." And then there was the discussion stirred by the "sadness of being Taiwanese" (身為台灣人的 悲哀) remarks of former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and Japanese author Riotaro Shiba (司馬遼太郎). These arguments have to do with individual experiences. We can understand what Lee meant about the sadness of being Taiwanese, as a member of the intelligentsia who grew up during the Japanese occupation, the 228 Incident and the complete "Sinification" that occurred after the KMT came to Taiwan.
The Japan-haters are mostly those members of the military and public service system who followed the KMT to Taiwan. It is also possible to understand the "hate Japan" sentiments of students who, if not affected by their experiences of direct combat with the Japanese, were instilled with hatred for the Japanese during their schooling.
In Japan, the question of responsibility for events that occurred during the war has always been an intensely debated topic. Given the complex psychology that the people in Taiwan have toward Japan, it becomes evident that this issue -- in both societies -- is like a bomb just waiting to go off. Still, this kind of love/hate relationship with Japan should, in the new generation, come to an end. After all, why should they be bound by the ideologies of the older genera-tion? We should contemplate the maintenance and promotion of relations with Japan based on this concept.
Under intense diplomatic pressure from China, Taiwan's path to survival rests on its ability to "live in the cracks." Even if it can't establish formal ties with foreign nations, it must still have substantive exchanges with other countries, so that the international community can be made aware of the Taiwan question. From the perspective of Taiwan's relations with Japan, King's long-term use of her influence and fame within Japanese society to promote Taiwan-Japan relations is worthy of applause. What lies behind the King phenomenon, however, makes it necessary for us to consider how to conduct relations with Japan in the future.
First, the promotion and maintenance of the present phase of relations depends on the Taiwanese elite from the "Japan-ese generation." It is easy for them to interact with Japan on the basis of personal relationships. But, along with social change, the middle-aged generation in both Taiwan and Japan have begun to emulate trends in Western countries and, as a result, lack the kind of intimate mutual understanding that existed with the previous generation. It is worth considering that developing relations based on personal relationships makes it easy for Taiwan to interact with parts of Japan's political spectrum. It would be worthwhile for the new generation to consider this form of exchange.
To the new generation, the question should be how to create a "common language" with Japan, which could be accomplished in two ways: cooperation toward guaranteeing mutual security and conducting single-issue ex-changes. In terms of guaranteeing mutual security, the 1996 missile crisis in the seas off Taiwan served as a wake-up call for Japan, calling its attention to the issue of regional peace and showing the importance of Japan in the safety in the Asian region.
Ever since US President George W. Bush defined US-China positioning as a "strategic partnership" -- thus ensuring that US-China conflicts would continue unabated -- Japan's status with respect to regional security has become even more important. Even though Taiwan and Japan don't have formal diplomatic ties, pursuing alternate channels in order to advance talks on regional security is a matter of urgency for their relations.
In addition, although "Japan fever" is still going strong and business still enjoys an "intimate" relationship with Japan, Taiwan's understanding of Japanese society appears to be insufficient. In order to avoid relying solely on support from the Japanese right, however, Taiwan should attempt to interact with Japan by engaging in single-issue exchanges. This would allow Japan to better understand modern Taiwan and allow Taiwan to avoid falling into the unresolved whirlpool of debate that exists between the left and right wings of the Japanese government.
Lenin once said the fastest way from Moscow to Beijing was via Calcutta. Japan, with its pro-US, passive, conservative and pragmatic foreign policy, has become increasingly important to Taiwan -- to the point that we can say "the fastest way to Washington from Taiwan is via Tokyo." The road to Tokyo, however, needs to be paved with a new mode of thinking.
Hsu Tung-ming is a freelance writer based in Beijing.
Translated by Scudder Smith
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