JAPAN-CHINA: New Gov’t Gets Chance to Show New Diplomacy

By Suvendrini Kakuchi Reprint | | Print |

Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO, May 23 2001 (IPS) - This week’s visit by Japan’s foreign minister to China gives Tokyo’s new government a chance to mend sometimes testy ties with Beijing, and forge a more “direct” relationship witth Japan’s closest neighbours.

Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka leaves for China on Thursday to attend the Asia-Europe foreign ministers’ meeting in Beijing, in what marks the first diplomatic tour of the highly popular government of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

“Her visit is important for Japan. Her past connection with China is expected to improve Japan-China relations considerably,” says Kuniko Inoguchi, who teaches international relations at Sophia University.

Inoguchi was referring to Tanaka’s being the daughter of Kakuei Tanaka, the former Japanese prime minister who spearheaded a peace treaty with China in 1972. There are high expectations that this will pave the way for Sino-Japanese ties.

The fifty seven year-old Tanaka, a charismatic and fiery politician who speaks English fluently, defined Japan’s foreign policy as “serving national interests”when she took office on Apr. 26.

The highlights of her trip this week are meetings with Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan on Thursday and her South Korean counterpart the next day.

Talks between Japan and China are expected to centre on the Japanese government’s approval of a controversial history textbook, which has been criticized by China and South Korea as glossing over Japan’s wartime atrocities.

Japan entered Manchuria in 1931 after its troops attacked a Chinese garrison in the so-called Manchuria Incident. Japanese atrocities during the war are remembered bitterly by many Chinese to this day, and remains a festering wound in ties between the two Asian powerhouses.

Japan’s colonisation of northern China ended in 1945, after its defeat that ended World War II.

“There are a number of issues such as the textbook issue, but I will make utmost efforts so they will not impact Japan’s relations with both countries,” Tanaka said after her appointment.

But despite protests by China and South Korea, which was also colonised by Japan, Koizumi has said Tokyo could not revise the textbooks again because they had already been approved by the government.

He has said Japan will “take the criticism in a serious matter” and “understand” other countries’ positions, but his position continues to prompt doubts among neighbouring countries.

Experts add that Tanaka’s trip is comes amid important developments in Asia, not least a view that China’s rise is causing economic shifts in the region and is thus of concern to Japan.

Japan’s new white paper on international trade, released last week, singles out China’s rapid emergence as an economic power as having thrust the Asian economy into an age of aggressive competition.

Analysts also say the diplomatic debut of Tanaka, Japan’s first female foreign minister, comes at a stage when Tokyo feels left out of the international stage.

A long economic recession has badly shaken the confidence of the Asian economic powerhouse.

Many hope, however, the new reformist government and Tanaka’s legacy as well as her reputation as an outspoken and energetic politician will help Japan improve its international image.

Koizumi, who now fields more than 80 percent approval rates, has defined the government’s foreign policy as upholding traditional U.S.-Japan relations but also points to the need to deepen relations with China and the rest of Asia.

“Tanaka is intelligent and outspoken. She gives a face to Japan’s foreign policy, quite a contrast to her former colleagues who relied heavily on bureaucrats when making foreign policy,” opines Yoko Kitazawa, head of the Pacific Asia Resources Centre and an adviser to the government on Japanese official development policy (ODA).

Despite favourable expectations, recent developments have deflated some of Tanaka’s public appeal.

The Japanese media points out Tanaka has been mired in a series of run-ins with top bureaucrats in the Foreign Ministry after she reversed several key official positions.

Tanaka seems “confused”, the ‘Yomuiri Shinbun’, Japan’s largest daily, said Wednesday. Its editorial points out how she has reversed several of her previous statements, such as that extending a visa for Taiwan’s former president Lee Teng Hui.

Tanaka told Beijing in a telephone conversation earlier this month that she would not issue a visa to Lee. China bitterly criticised Japan for allowing to Lee to visit Osaka for heart treatment on Apr. 22.

When questioned closely by opposition politicians, Tanaka declined to clarify her position in the Japanese Diet on Monday.

“In the field of diplomacy, there is the question of the position of the other party involved,” she told a House of Councilors Budget Committee session on Monday.

Early this month, Tanaka turned down a meeting with U.S. deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage, pleading that she was in a “panic” over the internal fight with bureaucrats.

She also cancelled telephone conversations with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana this month, moves that draw her flak.

Still, “I hope her upcoming overseas trip will open her eyes to the need to concentrate her time more on international affairs. It will be a pity if she does not change fast, because she is very capable and forthright,” says Inoguchi.

He adds: “She expresses a new standard for Japan.”