Japan–China relations

Abstract

The China-Japan relationship has made headlines in recent years. Political and security rivalry has badly damaged the bilateral relationship, yet major trade and investment ties continue to fuel the economies of both China and Japan, and the wider Asian region. Can this economic relationship alleviate China-Japan rivalry? Or will the political and security tensions between these two states lead to conflict in Asia? What will it take for China and Japan to negotiate a mutually acceptable regional order? These are the questions with which this issue of East Asia Forum Quarterly deals. On the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, the China-Japan relationship is mired in tensions over the remembered history of Japanese war and imperialism, maritime disputes in the East China Sea, and contested views about Asia’s future strategic order. Yet Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe have also used backchannel diplomacy and two face-to-face meetings to lift the relationship from its nadir in 2012–13. Even more important are the trade, investment and growing people-to-people ties that serve as ballast in the relationship. Yet the relationship is now at a crossroads. Japan can no longer invest in China as a low-cost manufacturing base, as China shifts towards higher-value-added manufacturing and services. Strategically, Japan should choose whether to remain dependent on the United States and resist China’s efforts to dominate regional order or negotiate relationships with China and the United States that make Japan feel secure. Equally, China must decide where Japan fits in its own vision of regional order, and must find a productive way to relate to Japan, recognising that insecurity in relations will thwart China’s efforts for regional leadership. This special issue brings together top experts from China and Japan, as well as voices from beyond the region, to offer their perspectives on what is needed to fix the relationship. They emphasise the importance of diplomacy and economics, the role of leadership in shaping domestic expectations and the need for both sides to acknowledge squarely the positive and negative aspects of the interdependent history between China and Japan.