Sino-Japanese Relations Sour

The relations between Beijing and Tokyo have turned a bit rocky of late. Anti-Japanese rallies in China, stemming from the content of Japanese history textbooks, are so popular that the government has had to tell people to avoid them. Then, the Japanese government issued oil and gas drilling rights in the East China Sea -- in territory the Chinese say is theirs. A quick fix is in order if other problems in the area, such as Pyongyang's nukes, are to have any chance of peaceful resolution.

On strictly legal terms, the Chinese are completely out of line in complaining about the content of Japanese textbooks. It is interference in a very basic internal affair. However, the greatest Japanese post-war failing has been the ignoring of Japanese war crimes. The Chinese are especially senstive about the "Rape of Nanking" where tens of thousands (some say hundreds of thousands) of Chinese civilians were butchered by the Japanese army. Germany, on the other hand, has made numerous gestures to the victims of the Nazi regime, and while some wounds will never heal, the acknowledgment of the crimes by the Bonn and Berlin governments has helped.

As for the territorial dispute, the issue is a "serious provocation to the rights of China and the norm of international relations," according to the Communist Chinese Foreign Ministry. Meanwhile, the Japanese maintain that the territory is within Japan's Exclusive Economic Zone, an area off the Japanese coast extending 200 miles as provided for under the Law of the Sea Treaty. This is a very easy matter to resolve, if there was any hope that either side would accept a loss. International law is pretty clear on territoriality and the International Court of Justice in The Hague could readily settle the matter. But suppose the Chinese were told the area was Japanese. With feelings are hostile as they are now, one might believe that China would ignore an adverse decision. And if the shoe were on the other foot, Japan might not so gladly accept an opposite decision.

China and Japan have the two largest economies in Asia, and the security of the Northwest Pacific reflects the relations between them. If they are getting along, the two Koreas, Russia and the US can't really make all that much trouble (not that the latter two really want to do so). If Japan and China are hissing like alley cats at one another, the others can't achieve much.

Is there a solution? In diplomacy, there is always the hope of one. Japan needs to accept its history as it was, not as one wishes it were. Germany offers a pretty good model here for making nice with the neighbors. And Japan's neighbors, especially China, need to acknowledge that the modern Japanese state has damn few people old enough to bear any personal responsibility for what happened up to 1945. A whole nation cannot be held morally culpable for events that happened 60 years ago. Unfortunately, that would require far too many people to act like grown-ups for far too long. Muddling through is a more likely prospect.


© Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
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