By Wang Yingfan

 

The convening of the Second Beijing-Tokyo Forum [in Tokyo August 5-6] reflects the fact that the China-Japan relationship has raised concerns among people from across Chinese and Japanese societies.

 

The crux of bringing about a new type of Sino-Japanese relationship lies in overcoming current difficulties and getting the inter-country relationship on a healthy, steady and progressive track.

 

However, instead of being limited to current affairs alone, our perspectives should consider the future. In his meeting with visiting Japanese Prime Minister Yasushiro Nakasone 22 years ago, Deng Xiaoping, the chief architect of China's reform and opening-up, said that our eyes should be focused on the 21st century, or even the 22nd and 23rd centuries, with respect to developing China-Japan relations.

 

Three important political documents have been signed between China and Japan since the rapprochement in 1972: the China-Japan Joint Statement (1972), the China-Japan Treaty of Peace and Friendship (1978) and the China-Japan Joint Declaration (1998).

 

The documents, signifying a consensus of paramount political importance, collectively constitute the political cornerstone for China-Japan relations.

 

In the joint declaration signed in 1998, the two nations pledged to establish a peace and development-orientated partnership aimed at the 21st century. In my opinion, this well defines the new China-Japan relationship. It applies to a fairly long period of time, spanning the 21st century at least.

 

For a long time after the normalization of relations in 1972, Sino-Japanese ties appeared to be going well, with two sides enjoying good mutual understanding and newly emerging political figures subscribing to the notion that bilateral ties must be carefully maintained. To a certain extent, misunderstanding and a lack of trust also punctuated this period.

 

Upon entering the 21st century, a host of complex changes have taken place in the arena of international politics and international relations. As a result, China and Japan, like other countries, are presented with new scenarios and problems. Nakagawa Hidenao, chairman of the Policy Research Council of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, observed in February this year at a political-exchange meeting in Beijing that China and Japan have become powers with equal weight and that this kind of framework has never been seen in Asia before. The two countries are, therefore, unprepared for this, both psychologically and strategically. Hence the friction we see today.

 

Nakagawa's enlightening remarks, in my opinion, cover the question of mutual understanding and trust, which becomes all the more accentuated in the context of current Sino-Japanese ties. Various polls and surveys conducted by Chinese and Japanese media among the public testify to this.

 

How to promote mutual understanding and trust? People attending this forum have aired their enlightening opinions. I would like to emphasize two more things.

 

First, there must be the political motivation on the part of politicians, decision-makers in particular, to promote mutual understanding and trust between the Chinese and Japanese people.

 

Political motivations come from analyzing and judging international situations and relations, as well as domestic ones. The motivations also arise from analyzing and judging the short- and long-term interests of the country, or one's own political party. This involves strategic insight and having a complete picture of the general situation. The proposal put forward by President Hu Jintao that the two countries should strive for peaceful coexistence, friendly ties in generations to come, mutually beneficial cooperation and hand-in-hand development embodies political motivation.

 

Sino-Japanese ties will make a dramatic turn for the better if Chinese and Japanese decision-makers have a powerful political motivation to bring about a new type of China-Japan relationship, targeting the future of Asia and the world.

 

The political aspirations and motivations of the decision-makers and politicians cannot dispense with the will and aspirations of people in their constituencies. The people can play a big role in shaping politicians' motivations. In view of this, it is vitally important to promote China-Japan non-governmental exchanges and people-to-people understanding and trust.

 

Second, political motivations need to result in action.

 

Mutually beneficial cooperation and mutual understanding and trust are indispensable to one another; they drive each other. When cooperation, in whatever field, bears tangible fruits, it automatically helps promote mutual understanding and trust.

 

Fruitful cooperation continues to be carried out in the fields of economics, trade, science, culture and education between China and Japan and both sides have benefited substantially. This is very comforting.

 

If the two countries are able to cooperate in bilateral and international issues of universal concern, if the two countries strengthen cooperation in the fields of resources, energy and the environment, and if the two countries cooperate on resolving territorial disputes over certain pockets of the East China Sea, then mutual understanding and trust will be improved considerably and the establishment of a new China-Japan relationship will be facilitated.

 

China and Japan, as two of the most influential countries in Asia and the world, must extend their perspectives beyond mere bilateral relations. Consideration of Asia, and the wider world, is indispensable to bringing about a new type of China-Japan relationship.

 

During his visit to the US in April this year, President Hu Jintao said that as economic globalization is progressing, countries are getting increasingly closer to each other and are becoming more and more interdependent, with their interests overlapping and their fortunes interconnecting. He went on to say that we must, therefore, look at everything with a "global perspective," paying closer attention to mutual benefits and common development.

 

Both China and Japan should possess just such a global outlook as they are confronted by new situations. They should work together on Asian and global issues, always doing their best to help promote peace and development.

 

Difficulties and problems are bound to haunt us in the course of creating a new type of Sino-Japanese relationship. We should not expect otherwise.

 

Take China-US relations, which are among the most important bilateral relations for both. There has been a history of a lack of mutual understanding and trust between the two countries, with situations sometimes threatening to become extremely harsh. But thanks to Herculean efforts made by both parties, we can now confidently state that mutual understanding and trust has been strengthened between China and the US and that the two countries' constructive cooperative ties are moving forward.

 

In view of all this, I am optimistic for the future of Chinese-Japanese relations. I bear in my mind Deng Xiaoping's words: "Sino-Japanese friendship should go on forever. This overrides everything else between us."

 

(The author is the vice director of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National People's Congress.)

 

(China Daily August 8, 2006)