Thursday marked the 50th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan. Since China’s “wolf warrior” diplomacy and hardline stance have fueled tensions, leading to joint global efforts to counter China, Beijing has sought to use the commemoration to find solace and an ally in Japan.
On Tuesday — the day former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe’s state funeral was held — China broke its tradition of evading Taiwan’s representative and sent Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Vice Chairman Wan Gang (萬鋼), a political nobody, to attend the funeral. As a non-Chinese Communist Party member who does not have past ties with Japan, Wan’s attendance would allow Beijing to make easy excuses if questioned about having a Chinese official attend the same event as a Taiwanese official.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s decision to hold the state funeral two days before the anniversary was a well-crafted move. As the leader of the Kochikai — a leading faction within Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party that has had strong ties with China for more than 60 years — Kishida has continued the tradition of the faction and former leaders to extend a helping hand to China whenever it is in a tight spot. Believing in economics over politics, Japanese bureaucrat Hayato Ikeda founded the faction in 1957, at the height of the Cold War, setting the cornerstone for China and Japan’s diplomatic relations.
In 1972, then-Japanese foreign minister Masayoshi Ohira and then-Chinese foreign minister signed the Japan-China Joint Declaration.
In 1992, on the 30th anniversary of the normalization of relations, then-Japanese prime minister Kiichi Miyazawa facilitated then-Japanese emperor Akihito’s first-ever imperial visit to China, a country sanctioned by the global community for crushing its citizens under tanks as they gathered at Tiananmen Square.
When Kishida assumed office last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) sent congratulations and sought to “rekindle relations.” A month earlier, when Xi learned that Kishida had contracted COVID-19, he sent messages of sympathy, stating: “This year marks the 50th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan, I’m ready to work with you to promote the building of a China-Japan relationship that answers the needs of the new era.”
China’s keen anticipation of the anniversary had it overlooking Taiwan’s attendance of the funeral. Kishida is also relying on the massive Chinese market to resuscitate the economy and recover his plunging approval ratings.
To close the book on Abe’s anti-China legacy, Kishida had ample reasons to hold the funeral before China’s National Day and the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, hoping to use the anniversary to restore China-Japan relations. Accounting for anti-China sentiment within the party and the public, Kishida’s move to hold the funeral before the anniversary was designed to reduce political implications and placate the anti-China camp at home and abroad. Allowing private institutions to issue commemorative stamps for the anniversary, featuring the national flowers of both countries — China’s peony and Japan’s cherry blossom — as well as pandas in the background, Kishida was hoping to pander to China and local industries.
During the 30th anniversary, Miyazawa helped China escape isolation. On the 50th anniversary, whether Kishida could pull off the faction’s old trick of “economics over politics” and help China out of its dilemma remains to be seen.
Wang Hui-sheng is chief director of the Kisei Ladies’ and Children’s Hospital in Japan.
Translated by Rita Wang
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