Difficulties, Solutions, and Hope

Former Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda also delivered a speech at the forum. He said that there shouldn’t be winners or losers in diplomatic negotiations, and that joint efforts on both sides are bound to help Sino-Japanese relations emerge from their current mire.

Several speakers mentioned the huge potential for cooperation between China and Japan. For example, a joint effort to resolve the all-pervasive problem of smog in Beijing would benefit both sides. And with regard to food safety, China can learn much from Japan’s experience.

Another potential sphere of cooperation is that of old-age service. Business acquaintances of mine who recently visited some of Japan’s retirement homes perceive this as a sector of strong cooperative potential for China and Japan. Amid this crucial stage of urbanization, many of China’s rural laborers are migrating to cities in pursuit of better job opportunities, leaving their parents to fend for themselves. The latest statistics show that 49 percent of rural families and 52 percent of urban families suffer from this so-called “empty nest” syndrome. Laying aside prejudice and focusing on better cooperation between our two countries, therefore, could solve this problem and hence generate huge benefit.

Hope

A survey of Sino-Japanese relations by China Daily and Japanese think tank Genron NPO before the opening of this year’s Forum revealed growing estrangement between the two peoples. People on both sides, however, showed insight by acknowledging the importance of working in concert to change the current situation and rebuild trust and friendship.

Late Premier Zhou Enlai once summarized the 2,000-year-long exchanges between China and Japan as “a 2,000-year friendship with a 50-year confrontation.” President Xi Jinping said in a speech on September 3, “China and Japan are close neighbors. Our 2,000-plus-year people-to-people and cultural exchanges imply that maintaining these ties is in the fundamental interests of the two nations and accords with the peace and stability of Asia and beyond. Both the Chinese government and its people will strive towards a harmonious relationship by building stable and sound relations between China and Japan on the basis of four important political documents.”

Changes in the world also inspire hope. The second half of the last century witnessed transition from wars and revolutions to a new era of peace and development.

China and the Soviet Union were close allies, but their relations dramatically deteriorated in the late 1950s. Volatile boundary tensions even led to a battle in March 1969. Although diplomatic relations were maintained, communications were largely suspended.

When Vietnamese President Ho Chi Minh died on September 2, 1969, both China and Soviet Union were invited to his funeral of September 9. I, as an interpreter, accompanied then Vice Premier Li Xiannian, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, to the funeral in Hanoi. During that period, the Central Committee of the CPC had laid down a strict protocol: “There must be no shaking of hands, exchanging of greetings, or speaking to Soviets.” On the day of the funeral, both Li Xiannian and the USSR’s Chairman of the Council of Ministers Alexei Kosygin were on the rostrum. It was clear that Alexei Kosygin wanted to talk to Li Xiannian, who turned his back on him. This left Kosygin no choice but to ask the Vietnamese government to pass on his request for a meeting with Premier Zhou Enlai en route to his return to Moscow.

By the time Li Xiannian sent the news back to Beijing and received feedback, Alexei Kosygin’s airplane had already left for Dushanbe, capital of Tadzhikistan, and part of the Soviet Union. Alexei Kosygin was so eager to meet with Premier Zhou Enlai that he took a flight to the Capital International Airport in Beijing. The meeting on September 11, 1969, between the leaders of the two powers instantly became a point of world focus.

The Sino-Japanese relationship today is totally different from Sino-Soviet relations during the Cold War, when there was no China-Moscow Forum. Both the divergences and consensus at the Beijing-Tokyo Forum helped us enhance mutual understanding. The difference is the result of a changing world, and the result of change in the theme of the era. The Sino-Japanese relationship is promising.

Some people compare Sino-Japanese relations with a bleak midwinter. This brings to mind the English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley and his famous verse in Ode to the West Wind: “If winter comes, can spring be far behind?”

WU JIANMIN is vice-chairman of the China Institute for Innovation and Development Strategy, a member of Foreign Policy Advisory Committee of the Foreign Ministry of China, and contract research fellow of Counsellors’ Office of the State Council.