Opinion | With China-Japan relations at a dismal low, it is clear which side is to blame
- Japan and China have arrived at the 50th anniversary of the normalisation of bilateral ties, but relations are strained
- Given Japan’s stance on cross-strait issues and the Diaoyu Islands, and its long-standing failure to apologise for the Nanking massacre, it isn’t difficult to understand why
There have been no meetings, either face-to-face or online, between the leaders of China and Japan since the end of 2019. Public perceptions are worsening, especially in Japan.
According to a June poll by the US Pew Research Centre, 87 per cent of Japan’s population view China unfavourably, the highest rate among all 19 sampled nations. Meanwhile, a 2021 survey by China International Publishing Group and Japan’s Genron NPO found that 66 per cent of Chinese interviewees had a negative impression of Japan, yet over 90 per cent of Japanese respondents were averse to China.
The communique states that “the Japanese side is keenly conscious of the responsibility for the serious damage Japan caused in the past to Chinese people through war, and deeply reproaches itself”. However, Tokyo has not yet issued a formal apology to the victims of the Nanking massacre, which took place in the Chinese city now called Nanjing.
In 1985, then-prime minister Yasuhiro Nakasone’s visit to the notorious Yasukuni Shrine, where 14 class-A war criminals are honoured, established a precedent for his successors. Ryutaro Hashimoto, Junichiro Koizumi and Shinzo Abe subsequently paid visits to the shrine while in office.
