JAPAN-CHINA: Despite Jiang Visit, War Record Hounds Ties

By Suvendrini Kakuchi Reprint | | Print |

Analysis - Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO, Nov 27 1998 (IPS) - Jiang Zemin’s visit to Japan, the first by Chinese head of state in postwar history, was a flop if it aimed to push slow-moving bilateral ties into a new era of intimacy.

By the end of Jiang’s six-day visit, the reasons why Asia’s two heavyweight nations cannot quite be the best of friends half a century after the Pacific War, were more evident than ever.

Friction between Japanese and Chinese officials on the wording used in a joint statement to refer to wartime history led to a delay in its release Thursday.

“History overshadows summit,” screamed the headline of the ‘Asahi Evening News’ Friday afternoon. “It is difficult to say that the summit put the two countries history issue behind them and sent their bilateral relations on a future-oriented path,” opined the newspaper.

The conservative ‘Yomuiri Shimbun’, Japan’s largest daily, spoke of a “rift” between Tokyo and Beijing on account of tensions over the joint declaration.

The document was issued but not signed by the two leaders — unlike a communique signed by Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and South Korean President Kim Dae Jung here last month.

While Jiang’s side pushed hard for wording in the declaration that included an explicit apology from Japan for is aggression into northern China, then called Manchuria, the Japanese government decided against it.

Analysts say this simply illustrates the old fundamental differences of opinion between Japan and China.

“Its quite simple,” said Jun Takagi, a lawyer working on war reparations for Asians. “The way the Japanese government sees its past with China is that everything has been settled. For China though, the correct depiction of the past is based on the future.”

In the end, the declaration repeated Japan’s oft-stated “deep remorse” for causing “grave suffering and damage on the people of China” when it invaded Manchuria 60 years ago.

Obuchi had expressed a verbal apology to Jiang earlier, but the Chinese side had come to Tokyo eyeing a written, official and unequivocal apology from Japan.

So when Obuchi and Jiang raised a toast to “the development of long lasting relations of friendship” between the two countries at a state banquet hosted by the Emperor Akihito Thursday evening, experts from both sides said that more time is needed for that message to be achieved.

While a string of Japanese premiers and officials have expressed remorse for invading neighbouring countries decades ago, they have often been perceived as half-hearted.

Periodic statements from officials defending Japanese aggression or denying that atrocities like the Nanjing massacre or the imperial army’s use of Asian women as sexual slaves have not helped.

Obuchi told Jiang that while he is deeply repentant for his country’s past, Japan had apologised to China officially when former prime minister Tomiichi Murayama, leader of Japan’s Socialist Party, visited Beijing in 1995.

Jiang’s views on the subject were clear. On Thursday, he spent most of the time during his public appearances explaining why Japan needed to apologise to China. “I do not subscribe to the view that the history issue has already been discussed sufficiently,” Jiang told his audiences.

Takagi observes that much of the perceived wavering of the Japanese government on its wartime record has to do with the fact that it is led by the conservative leaning Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

Many of the party’s senior members are reluctant to come out with a clear apology to China, much less pay compensation.

The LDP has always maintained that Japan atoned for its past when it made reparation payments to China and other former in Asia.

For China, a simmering issue with Japan remains the need for a clear explanation for the Nanjing massacre. Japanese troops invaded China in 1937, embarking on gruesome experiments with civilians in developing chemical weapons.

The incident, which China claims left 300,000 ordinary Chinese civilians dead when Japanese troops went on a rampage, has been described by some LDP members as a gross exaggeration. No official documentation has been made of the tragedy that continues to mar bilateral ties.

Analysts explain that this is partly why Jiang wanted a written apology this time — and also why despite strong Chinese pressure, the LDP resisted.

Keiko Tsuwa, an activist campaigning for an apology and official compensation for Asian ‘comfort women’ or sexual slaves, explains why Tokyo is treating China and South Korea differently.

The Japan-South Korea joint statement contained an official apology because Tokyo had earlier been forced to acknowledge clear evidence of aggression against civilians when Japan occupied the Korean peninsula, she says.

“With China, controversial issues and individual rights are le of China, anoonservatives feel less pressure,” she said.

Jiang thus returned to Beijing wa where it promised not to interfere with China’s domestic issues, it did not express support for Beijing’s position to exclude Taiwan from international organisations like the United Nations.

Japan’s lack of clear support is bound to feed China’s anxiety over Japan’s defense guidelines with the United States, which outline a more active role for Tokyo in the region.

But Jiang goes home with a 3.20 billion U.S. dollar loan from Japan, to be extended over two years, to tackle pollution problems and develop transportation, energy and agriculture.

China is the biggest recipient of Japan’s foreign aid. Analysts say this preferential treatment is not only due to China’s huge needs — but proof that Beijing knows how to use Japan’s wartime angst to its advantage.