News Update
27-02-05, 11:38
Japan's Ties to China: Strong Trade, Shaky Politics
By JAMES BROOKE
Correction Appended
TOKYO, Feb. 21 - Just as China's state news agency was berating Japan for its "wild behavior" in joining the United States to express their "common strategic objectives" in Taiwan, the news came Monday that Japanese trade with China jumped 27 percent last year, hitting a record high of $168 billion.
It was only the latest example of a troubling dynamic in the countries' relations: white hot economics and deep freeze politics.
The joint United States-Japan declaration on Taiwan, buried last week in a long, seemingly bland statement of cooperative security objectives, left many Chinese analysts outraged. "Japan colonized Taiwan for half a century," one Chinese expert based here said Monday, hardly containing his anger. "When Japan talks about Taiwan, we think they have no right to talk." He asked to remain unidentified because he did not want to criticize Japan publicly.
But others say Japan's mention of Taiwan in its list of goals for a safer Asia was part of a larger effort to stand up to China's expanding power.
Japan's growing economic dependence on China would seem to point toward a greater deference from Tokyo. But political and military affairs have risen in importance in the region, and for Japan's government they may now be edging out economic concerns. As a result, many here say, it makes sense for Tokyo to bolster Taiwan, a convenient buffer state that absorbs the military hostility and expansive energy of its rival.
To the east of Taiwan, Japanese islands already feel Chinese pressure: Chinese drilling last fall for gas in an area claimed by Japan, a Chinese submarine caught in November trying to slip through Japanese territorial waters, and a continuing effort by China to have a Japanese island declared a rock, a legal strategy that would deprive Japan of thousands of square miles of economic rights.
Discarding the language of diplomacy, Hatsuhisa Takashima, the spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of Japan, said in an interview on Monday that the inclusion of Taiwan in the security list was a consequence of those actions. China has been increasing its military budget by 10 percent annually for the past 10 years, continued Mr. Takashima, whose government is actually cutting its defense spending this year.
Fear of a rising China prompted Hiroyuki Hosoda, the government's chief cabinet secretary, to ask the European Union on Monday to retain its embargo on arm sales to China. "The sale of advanced weaponry would fuel tensions and is a concern for Japan," he said.
The Chinese argue that Japan must adapt to a new reality in Asia. Recalling Japan's occupation of Taiwan and its depredations on the mainland, the Chinese analyst, a graduate of American and Chinese universities, said: "For almost two centuries, Japan had a weak and divided China. Now we have a nearly integrated, strong China. The Japanese are not ready for that."
For Taiwan, which was delighted by Tokyo's surprise announcement, the best strategy is to form an alliance to check China. Taiwanese officials note that South Korea recently renewed direct flights between Seoul and Taiwan, a link broken over a decade ago. And they eagerly endorse the stalled six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons, which aim to preclude North Korea from even considering a military option.
"With regards to China, we hope that there is a military encirclement so China will not go for a military adventure as well," Koh Se-kai, Taiwan's representative to Japan, said in an interview on Monday. Speaking fluent Japanese acquired during a three-decades-long exile here that ended in the 1990's, he added: "The United States and Japan announced their interest in the Taiwan straits issue. We welcome it for it seems to be the first step for such an encirclement."
The Japanese see themselves as moving cautiously. The Taiwan statement may have set off fire alarms in Chinese newsrooms, but to Japanese eyes it was so subtle that it received light mention on Monday in the Japanese press.
Briefing reporters in Washington on Saturday, Mr. Takashima, the Japanese spokesman, said that in the event of war between Taiwan and China, Japan would limit itself to providing logistical support, saying: "Surely, Japan would support American action, but we wouldn't join the military action itself. It is prohibited by the Constitution."
Yet, one observer left Tokyo last week with words of caution for Japan and China. "The biggest challenge to Japan is going to be how it arranges its relationship with China," Howard H. Baker Jr. said Wednesday at a small news briefing before stepping down as American ambassador here. "Japan is a superpower. China is on its way to being a superpower. They are both rich, they both have a history and tradition in this region. And they don't much like each other."
Correction: February 23, 2005, Wednesday:
Because of an editing error, a news analysis article yesterday about tensions over Japan's support for the security of Taiwan, which China considers a breakaway province, misidentified the occupying power in Taiwan during the Japanese military conquests in Asia before World War II. It was Japan, not China.
By JAMES BROOKE
Correction Appended
TOKYO, Feb. 21 - Just as China's state news agency was berating Japan for its "wild behavior" in joining the United States to express their "common strategic objectives" in Taiwan, the news came Monday that Japanese trade with China jumped 27 percent last year, hitting a record high of $168 billion.
It was only the latest example of a troubling dynamic in the countries' relations: white hot economics and deep freeze politics.
The joint United States-Japan declaration on Taiwan, buried last week in a long, seemingly bland statement of cooperative security objectives, left many Chinese analysts outraged. "Japan colonized Taiwan for half a century," one Chinese expert based here said Monday, hardly containing his anger. "When Japan talks about Taiwan, we think they have no right to talk." He asked to remain unidentified because he did not want to criticize Japan publicly.
But others say Japan's mention of Taiwan in its list of goals for a safer Asia was part of a larger effort to stand up to China's expanding power.
Japan's growing economic dependence on China would seem to point toward a greater deference from Tokyo. But political and military affairs have risen in importance in the region, and for Japan's government they may now be edging out economic concerns. As a result, many here say, it makes sense for Tokyo to bolster Taiwan, a convenient buffer state that absorbs the military hostility and expansive energy of its rival.
To the east of Taiwan, Japanese islands already feel Chinese pressure: Chinese drilling last fall for gas in an area claimed by Japan, a Chinese submarine caught in November trying to slip through Japanese territorial waters, and a continuing effort by China to have a Japanese island declared a rock, a legal strategy that would deprive Japan of thousands of square miles of economic rights.
Discarding the language of diplomacy, Hatsuhisa Takashima, the spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of Japan, said in an interview on Monday that the inclusion of Taiwan in the security list was a consequence of those actions. China has been increasing its military budget by 10 percent annually for the past 10 years, continued Mr. Takashima, whose government is actually cutting its defense spending this year.
Fear of a rising China prompted Hiroyuki Hosoda, the government's chief cabinet secretary, to ask the European Union on Monday to retain its embargo on arm sales to China. "The sale of advanced weaponry would fuel tensions and is a concern for Japan," he said.
The Chinese argue that Japan must adapt to a new reality in Asia. Recalling Japan's occupation of Taiwan and its depredations on the mainland, the Chinese analyst, a graduate of American and Chinese universities, said: "For almost two centuries, Japan had a weak and divided China. Now we have a nearly integrated, strong China. The Japanese are not ready for that."
For Taiwan, which was delighted by Tokyo's surprise announcement, the best strategy is to form an alliance to check China. Taiwanese officials note that South Korea recently renewed direct flights between Seoul and Taiwan, a link broken over a decade ago. And they eagerly endorse the stalled six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons, which aim to preclude North Korea from even considering a military option.
"With regards to China, we hope that there is a military encirclement so China will not go for a military adventure as well," Koh Se-kai, Taiwan's representative to Japan, said in an interview on Monday. Speaking fluent Japanese acquired during a three-decades-long exile here that ended in the 1990's, he added: "The United States and Japan announced their interest in the Taiwan straits issue. We welcome it for it seems to be the first step for such an encirclement."
The Japanese see themselves as moving cautiously. The Taiwan statement may have set off fire alarms in Chinese newsrooms, but to Japanese eyes it was so subtle that it received light mention on Monday in the Japanese press.
Briefing reporters in Washington on Saturday, Mr. Takashima, the Japanese spokesman, said that in the event of war between Taiwan and China, Japan would limit itself to providing logistical support, saying: "Surely, Japan would support American action, but we wouldn't join the military action itself. It is prohibited by the Constitution."
Yet, one observer left Tokyo last week with words of caution for Japan and China. "The biggest challenge to Japan is going to be how it arranges its relationship with China," Howard H. Baker Jr. said Wednesday at a small news briefing before stepping down as American ambassador here. "Japan is a superpower. China is on its way to being a superpower. They are both rich, they both have a history and tradition in this region. And they don't much like each other."
Correction: February 23, 2005, Wednesday:
Because of an editing error, a news analysis article yesterday about tensions over Japan's support for the security of Taiwan, which China considers a breakaway province, misidentified the occupying power in Taiwan during the Japanese military conquests in Asia before World War II. It was Japan, not China.