CHINA / From Editor
Will China-Japan relations come back from the edge?
By Li Hong (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2006-08-23 15:44
The economic implications are so heavy that we cannot sit idly by and
watch the political relations between China and Japan continue to
freefall.
The majority of the world press mocked the intransigence, or, to put it
bluntly, stubbornness of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, when he went
to worship at the Yasukuni Shrine on August 15, the anniversary of
Japan's official surrender in World War II. It was his sixth visit to the
shrine since he became Prime Minister of Japan in 2001.
The fact that 14 convicted Class-A Hitler-like war criminals are
enshrined there, and the top leader of Japan pays homage to them, makes
us indignant and angry. The Chinese and Koreans have strongly supported
their governments' decisions to halt summit meetings with Koizumi. The
icy relationship between us is in nobody's interest.
Hopes are high now in China, the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Japan that,
with Koizumi set to go on September 20, his successor will reverse course
and give up worshipping at the shrine, pulling diplomatic relations back
from the edge.
The Chinese are always ready to trade kindness with gratitude. At present
CCTV, China's national television broadcast station with tens of millions
of viewers, is showing a 30-part TV series during prime time, titled
"Norman Bethune", after a Canadian doctor who came to China and helped
treat injured soldiers who fought for Mao Zhedong in the early 1940s. He
died in north China after falling ill after an operation. The play,
depicting Bethune's selfless contributions to China, has moved many here
to tears and has ingrained the country of Canada deeply in our minds.
Thanks to the architect of China's reform Deng Xiaoping, the Chinese,
through hard work, have seen the country's rapid rise in economy and
world clout, of which we are all proud.
Although the growing number of affluent residents should remain humble
and modest, as the great Confucius instructed, we are not expected to
take others negating history and opening old wounds by worshipping at a
shrine where the remains of the masterminds of the grisly war are
interred. The Chinese will never waver in their demands for Japanese
politicians to stop visiting the shrine, as it is a matter of profound
national feeling.
The front-runner to replace Koizumi, chief cabinet secretary Shinzo Abe
expressed concern over Sino-Japanese relations at the Tokyo-Beijing Forum
held in Tokyo earlier this month. Abe said he was "saddened" by two
numbers; that only 32 percent of his countrymen polled hold positive
feeling towards China, and a mere 15 percent of Chinese polled think well
of Japan. Nevertheless, Abe expressed confidence that the flawed mutual
ties could be addressed.
Abe even said that the somber statistics are no more than "the throes
before China and Japan return to good relations." From Abe's words we see
a light at the end of the dark tunnel we have been running through for
five years.
Flexibility is the core of diplomacy, and both China and Japan know the
importance of knowing how to seek common ground while putting aside
differences. Occasionally, the Japanese press has advocated the removal
of the 14 Class-A war criminals from the shrine. That is flexibility.
Only in this way can we lay the foundations for possible better ties in
the future. The Japanese invaded China and Korea and brought war to these
countries. Rehabilitation can be achieved on both sides. Chinese angst is
fully justified, and the hand of friendship and display of remorse must
come from the Japanese.
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