Hitting the high Cs
In the past few years, China has significantly adjusted its strategy towards its neighbours and greatly improved relations with most of them. But, until recently, Japan was the only holdout in China's otherwise successful 'peripheral diplomacy'.
The political ties between the nations were almost frozen during Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi's tenure. The relationship, however, has experienced a dramatic turn in the past six months. With Premier Wen Jiabao's short but highly successful visit to Japan recently, Beijing's 'new diplomacy' finally reached Tokyo.
Mr Wen's visit can be characterised by three 'Cs'. The first 'C' stands for creative. The highlight of the visit was his speech to the joint session of the Japanese Diet. The speech - the first in 22 years delivered by a Chinese leader to the Japanese parliament - indicates important conceptual changes in Chinese thinking on Japan. Never before have China's leaders used such explicit language in public to praise Japanese politicians' remorse and apology for the war of aggression against China and other Asian countries, to acknowledge Japan's assistance and contribution to China's economic modernisation, and to affirm Japan's postwar path of peaceful development.
Mr Wen's speech was also broadcast live on the mainland, indicating that the leadership wants the public to absorb this new discourse and reduce its hostility towards Japan.
The second 'C' is constructive. The trip featured a positive and upbeat tone and posture regarding the relationship. Mr Wen hailed the 2,000 years of 'friendly exchanges' whose length, scale and influence are 'rarely seen in the course of world civilisation'. He asserted that despite twists and turns, 'the foundation of such friendship remains as unshakeable as Mount Tai and Mount Fuji'.
He argued that, compared with their common interests, the differences between the countries were of secondary importance and if both sides worked together, the East China Sea could become 'a sea of peace, friendship and co-operation'.
On the most thorny issue of war history, he subtly reminded his host of 'the untold sufferings' Japan inflicted on China, while he emphasised Beijing taking a forward-looking approach on the history issue and that remembering history does not mean to 'perpetuate hatred' but to 'secure a better future' for the relationship.
Mr Wen made it very clear that Beijing wants to 'lift China-Japan relations to a new historical stage'. For that purpose, Chinese leaders accepted Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's idea of building a 'strategic relationship with mutual benefits'.
By accepting this framework of 'strategic reciprocity', China and Japan pledge to 'support each other's peaceful development', implying that neither side should seek hegemony in the region.
The third 'C' is charm. While taking his mission to elevate China-Japan relations to a strategic level, Mr Wen wanted to cultivate it at the grass-roots level with personal charisma.
He told the Japanese that his visit was to 'contribute my share to improving and growing China's relations with Japan'. He revealed that he personally wrote the speech to the parliament. He even disclosed that the first thing he did after his speech was call his elderly mother to find out how he did.
This attempt to personalise a major diplomatic event is remarkable for Chinese leaders, who usually emphasise the collective nature of their dealings with foreign countries. While this shows Chinese leaders' increasing confidence in dealing with the outside world, it also reflects Mr Wen's personal belief that diplomacy is not just the relationship between states, but also between people. He has extended his 'down-to-the-earth' style in domestic politics to foreign affairs.
The three 'Cs' are laudable and reflect the Beijing leadership's realisation that for the two Asian giants to co-exist peacefully in the Asia-Pacific, old thinking and practice will no longer work.
With the change in the political atmosphere between the nations, China's policy towards Japan is able to 'progress with time'. The three 'Cs' alone, however, cannot sustain the relationship. The challenge for Chinese and Japanese leaders is to determine how to transform their long-term and strategic vision of the relationship into a fourth 'C': concrete problem-solving.
The China-Japan joint press communique provides a road map for confidence-building and for co-operation on many issues where the nations share an interest. But for a stable relationship, more than nice words are needed.
Jianwei Wang is a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and senior research associate at the Shanghai Institute of American Studies. Distributed by Pacific Forum CSIS
