Opinion | Why China and Japan will continue to be frenemies despite Abe’s visit signalling warmer ties
- Cary Huang says trade war has pushed China and Japan closer together, but the Japanese PM’s trip to Beijing did not address countries’ fundamental differences
- Tensions over history, territory, regional ambitions and geopolitical strategy mean the long-term outlook for China-Japan relations remains challenging
China’s rolling out the red carpet to welcome its most “unwelcome” foreign leader, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, has highlighted the extreme flexibility and pragmatism of Chinese diplomacy.
China-Japan relations have been a roller-coaster ride in the decades since diplomatic ties were established in 1972 – from a golden age marked by friendship that spanned from the 1980s to the mid-1990s, with both Beijing and Tokyo acclaiming their historic bond and geographic proximity, to the recent low under Abe’s watch.
No foreign leader in recent memory has ever received harsher rebukes from the Chinese media than Abe, who was called a “political hooligan” and the “most unwelcome” foreign leader. Abe’s China trip last week was the first by a Japanese prime minister since 2011.