Transcript PRC-Japan Relations Historical Legacies and Current Issues Historical Legacies: I • Cultural influence in ancient times – written characters – architecture – calendar – ...

PRC-Japan Relations
Historical Legacies and
Current Issues
Historical Legacies: I
• Cultural influence in ancient times
– written characters
– architecture
– calendar
– ...
Historical Legacies: II
• Similar experience of Western invasion in
19th century
Historical Legacies: III
• Rise of Japan in late 19th century
• Japan’s territorial gains from China
– 1895: Taiwan
– 1931: northeast China
– 1937: north & east China
– 1944: central China
Rape of Nanking (1937)
• Tillman Durdin of the New York Times:
– ``… to get to the gate I had to just climb over
masses of bodies accumulated there … one
of the great atrocities of modern times.”
• Christian missionary, John Magee:
– ``… every prisoner they could find but also a
vast number of ordinary citizens of all ages …
were shot down”
Peace Treaty with Japan
• 1951, Peace Treaty with Japan was
signed in San Francisco
– neither PRC nor ROC was invited
• 1952, Republic of China (Taiwan) signed
Peace Treaty with Japan
– ``state of war between the Republic of China
and Japan is terminated”
Contacts before 1972
• Sporadic, unofficial contacts between PRC
and Japan before 1972
Diplomatic Relation (1972)
• Turning point: Nixon visited Beijing and
Shanghai in February 1972
• Japan’s Prime Minister visited Beijing and
signed Joint Communiqué in September
• Diplomatic relations were established
between Japan and P.R. China
Joint Communiqué (1972)
• Japan ``fully understands and respects”
that ``Taiwan is an inalienable part of the
territory of the People's Republic of China”
• neither Party will seek regional hegemony
• both shall oppose any attempt by any
other country or group of countries to
establish regional hegemony
Peace Treaty (1978)
• Treaty of Peace and Friendship between
the People's Republic of China and Japan
• Deng Xiaoping visited Japan
War Reparations
• 1951 Peace Treaty at San Francisco
– John Foster Dulles sought to eliminate war
reparations
– feared that heavy reparations burdens would
similarly cripple Japan as did Germany in
1919
– make it vulnerable to Communist domination
• 1972, PRC government waived the claim
of war reparations against Japan
Japanese Loans to PRC
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•
•
•
•
Official Development Assistance (ODA)
Japanese government loan
energy loans
Japanese free aid
trade surplus loans
After Cold War
• Relative rise of U.S. and China
• Relative decline of Russia and Japan
Current Status
• Washington-Tokyo-Beijing triangle
– PRC & Japan regard relationship with each
other as 2nd in importance to that with US
• Japan plays significant role in integrating
PRC into world economy
• Japan has a vital interest in PRC’s
development and stability
PRC’s Trade Partners 2013
• Japan is Mainland China’s third largest
export destination and second largest
import source
• Total trade volume: US$313 billion
• 7.5% of Mainland China’s total foreign
trade
• Total imports from Japan: US$162 billion
• 8.3% of Mainland China’s total imports
Japan’s Trade Partners 2012
• Mainland China is Japan’s largest source
of imports and largest export destination
– Exports: China 18.1%, US 17.6%, S.K. 7.7%
– Imports: China 21.3%, US 8.6%, Austra. 6.4%
• PRC (including both Mainland China and
Hong Kong) became Japan’s largest trade
partner in 2004
– surpassing the US for the first time
Japan's Top Trade Partners (Total Volume, in trillion yen)
USA
Mainland China
Hong Kong
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Japan’s Direct Investment
•
•
•
•
2nd largest investment source
31,855 projects
US$66.6 billion
1 million employees
Current Issues
• Yasukuni Shrine
– worship of Class-A war criminals of WWII
– visits by Prime Ministers and high officials
• Japan recognized its aggression against
China for the first time in 1998
• Japanese history textbooks
– minimize Japan’s aggression in Asia
Other Issues
• destruction of Japanese chemical
weapons in China
– a memorandum was signed in 1999
• Rape of Nanking
– Japanese nationalist extremists claim that the
rape of Nanking was a fabrication
Territorial Dispute
• Diaoyu (Senkaku) Islands in East China
Sea
Lack of Understanding
• China:
– does Japan ignore or deny wartime atrocities?
– may extremists revert Japan to militarism?
• Japan:
– is China a military threat?
• mutually reinforcing misunderstandings
• both need public relations efforts abroad