For many decades, Japan has managed its
foreign relations (especially with China) under a policy of "seikei
bunri" (separation of politics and economics). Recently, several political
issues have disrupted Japan's relationship with China, however. The
"hot" issues of dispute between the governments at Beijing and Tokyo
are fueled by nationalist sentiments among citizens, and draw on a long and
bitter history.
THE KEY ISSUES and BRIEF HISTORIES:
Senkaku / Diaoyu Islands
These uninhabited islands have become
important because they lie near potential oil and gas reserves. Although the current intensity of the dispute is new, the history goes back over a hundred years.
Japanese claims to the islands go back to
1895, when Japan was expanding as an empire.
After WWII, along with Okinawa, the islands
were under US trusteeship, and were returned to Japan (along with Okinawa) in
1971.
However, China argues that the islands have
been part of Chinese territory since ancient times, and should have been
returned when Taiwan was (after WWII, however, Taiwan also claims the islands
separately).
2012: Right-wing Tokyo Governor Shintaro
Ishihara threatened to use public funds to buy the islands for Japan. The
Japanese government stepped in to buy them to prevent Ishihara's more dangerous
idea.
However, this still provoked the Chinese government to read this as an aggressive move, and has led to the intense conflicts over the islands now.
Yasukuni Shrine
Every time a Japanese politician -- particularly
a prime minister -- visits Yasukuni Shrine, it causes political conflict with China
(and also Taiwan, South Korea, and North Korea).
Although Yasukuni Shrine was founded by the
Meiji Emperor in the late 19th century to honor all those who died for the
emperors since the 1868 Meiji Restoration, the link between WWII and Yasukuni
is what provokes the most conflict.
Certainly, it is politically useful to have
anti-Japanese sentiment in China. The Chinese government can focus popular
anger on the wartime history with Japan, and avoid criticism of its own
wrongdoing. However, this can also backfire.
Nevertheless, the Chinese government is responding to what is often real pain and anger.
It is true that, unlike in postwar Germany,
young people in Japan now learn very little about Japan's imperial history in school.
Without knowing the history, how can young
Japanese people work through Japan's position in East Asian politics? How can
they work out their own opinions on the past?
A particularly contested event between China
and Japan is the Nanking Massacre, also sometimes referred to as the "Rape
of Nanking." On December 13, 1937, the Japanese army captured Nanking, the
capital of China at the time. Most likely exaggerated claims exist on both
sides, and numbers of estimated dead vary. The most extreme claim (by a vocal
minority) is that the Nanking Massacre never happened. However, based on
survivors' and military veterans' accounts, and estimates made at the
International Military Tribunal of the Far East in 1948, historians think
around 200,000 people may have died. This was not a battle, and most who died
were not soldiers. Many were women and children, many were killed in painful
ways, and thousands of women were raped, often by gangs of soldiers.
One witness was a German businessman, John Rabe,
who lived in Nanking and was protected by his status as a member of the Nazi
party. He created a Safety Zone to protect Chinese people from the Japanese
military.
The intense violence of the Japanese military
occupation of Nanking needs to be discussed as a part of not only Japanese but
also East Asian history. Japanese imperialism and militarism depended on
certain attitudes toward non-Japanese Asians.
How much did you learn about this history in
school? How do you think you can understanding this history can help relations
between Japan and China?
