At a critical juncture

Problems and contradictions in China-Japan relations have come to the fore and call for renewed efforts to build trust

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the normalization of bilateral relations between China and Japan. The China-Japan Joint Statement, inked by the two governments on Sept 29, 1972, initiated the establishment of diplomatic relations and ushered in a new chapter for bilateral relations after the end of World War II.

Substantive progress in China-Japan relations over the past half a century has not only changed the two nations, but also promoted peace and prosperity in Northeast Asia. However, as time has gone by, certain problems and contradictions inherent in bilateral relations have yet to disappear, but have emerged time and again, becoming a stumbling block to the future development of bilateral ties.

Overall, China-Japan relations over the past 50 years have been successful, with constantly expanding people-to-people exchanges and growing economic and trade cooperation between the two countries.

Bilateral trade was a meager $1 billion in 1972 when the two established diplomatic relations, followed by double-digit growth in the next 40 years and reaching a record high of $342.89 billion in 2011. However, China-Japan relations deteriorated rapidly in 2012 due to Japan's illegal "purchase" of China's Diaoyu Islands, resulting in five consecutive years of falling economic and trade ties. This has created a new scenario of "cold politics, cold economics", different from the former "cold politics, hot economics" relationship－a fairly traditional view of relations held by many people on both sides.

Bilateral trade resumed growth in 2017. Despite the enormous shocks stemming from the COVID-19 outbreak, in 2021, the trade in goods between China and Japan grew by 17 percent from 2020 and reached a record high of $371.4 billion.

With regard to Japan's foreign trade structure, on a single country basis, China has long been Japan's largest trading partner and accounted for the highest share of Japan's imports, with the share constantly hitting new records. In China's foreign trade, on a single country basis, Japan has been China's second-largest trading partner after the United States. This fully demonstrates the two countries are highly complementary in economy and trade. Maintaining stable bilateral relations and further bolstering economic and trade ties will ensure economic benefits for both countries and are in the fundamental interests of the two peoples. To a great extent, the economic and bilateral ties between China and Japan, the world's second- and third-largest economies, could determine the prosperity and development of Northeast Asia and the world at large.

People-to-people exchanges have grown in sync with closer economic and trade ties. Statistics from the Japan National Tourism Organization show that prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of tourists from the Chinese mainland to Japan hit a record high of 9.59 million in 2019, up 14.5 percent from 2018 and accounting for over 30 percent of total foreign tourists.

Furthermore, Japan has been Chinese students' top destination for overseas studies in non-English speaking countries, and China has remained the top source of Japan's international students. According to data from the Japan Student Services Organization, despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, students from the Chinese mainland accounted for 43.57 percent of Japan's international students in 2020. Likewise, China has been an important destination for Japanese people's overseas travel and studies. Since China and Japan established diplomatic relations 50 years ago, people-to-people exchanges between the two countries have never ceased, but have been deepening and developing.

Currently, China-Japan relations are faced with more and more severe challenges for both historical and contemporary reasons.

The development of bilateral ties has been beset by issues such as Japanese textbooks that whitewash its wartime acts, Japanese politicians' visits to the infamous Yasukuni Shrine－both reflecting Japan's notorious reluctance to face up to and reflect on World War II history－and the Diaoyu Islands issue which touches upon China's sovereignty and territorial integrity. In particular, the Diaoyu Islands issue triggered the worst setback in bilateral relations since 1972 and greatly aggravated animosity between the two peoples.

China and Japan have been holding high-level political dialogues since 2015 to build consensus and manage divergences, creating a favorable environment for the improvement of bilateral relations. However, political relations between the two countries have yet to walk out of the shadow cast by Japan's illegitimate "purchasing" of China's Diaoyu Islands in 2012. What is even more disturbing is that as China-US competition intensifies, Japan and the US have been beefing up their strategic coordination on China-related issues, posing more severe challenges to China-Japan relations.

The Taiwan question has thus become another key factor affecting the development of China-Japan relations. A number of Japanese senior officials' irresponsible remarks on the Taiwan question have grossly interfered in China's internal affairs and seriously hurt the feelings of the Chinese people.

It would be sad to say the least if the two countries cannot maintain the political foundation of bilateral relations and the basic trust following 50 years of diplomatic ties.

Fifty years ago, the two countries established diplomatic relations at the climax of the Cold War, a major event in the history of international relations in Northeast Asia.

The Treaty of Peace and Friendship between China and Japan, signed in 1978, laid a further milestone for bilateral relations after the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1972. Japan's Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko visited China in 1992, the year that marked the 20th anniversary of normalization of bilateral relations. As an important part of the Western camp, Japan continued communication and cooperation with China and such acts helped China break the new wave of blockade imposed by the Western camp in the early 1990s.

As the world undergoes a new period of turbulence and transformation, tensions between China and the US-led West are escalating rapidly. China is once again faced with the risk of deteriorating external environment for advancing its socialist modernization. Given the complex international situation, the significance of China-Japan relations has become more prominent. How to make China-Japan relations an important and positive factor for safeguarding world peace and promoting economic globalization has once again become a big test for Chinese strategies and Chinese wisdom.

The author is a professor with the Institute for International Strategic Studies at the Party School of the Central Committee of the CPC(National Academy of Governance).The author contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily.