Observing the Sino-Japanese relations from Nanjing on the ‘most anti-Japanese day’ ~Are the relations really improving?~
In 2018, there were a lot of events to commemorate the 40-year anniversary of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and China. Sino-Japanese relations have long been in a period of severe hostility as a result of territorial disputes, which have heated up since 2012. However, the relationship has seen recent improvement, especially with the ‘friendly atmosphere’ brought about by the 40-year anniversary of the Treaty. For example, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe both made a state visit to each country respectively in May and October 2018 for the first time in the last 7 years.In June 2019, Chinese President Xi Jinping also made a very first visit to Japan for the G20 Osaka summit. While Japan and China have been focusing on the topics they can cooperate on and have signed various agreements in the fields of politics, economy and society, Sino-Japan tensions over their fundamental disputes such as territorial and historical issues are still existing, and the progress made on them has been very limited. For example, the Chinese coast guard still has been active around the contested territory in the East China Sea and there have been frequent confrontations with the Japanese coast guard over there. Although Sino-Japan relations are very likely to keep improving in 2019 and beyond,in the absence of efforts to solve these deep-rooted issues, their relations’ improvement will only remain on the surface and inherently unstable.
At the end of such a remarkable year, 2018, for Sino-Japan relations, the ceremony I visited was not about celebrating Sino-Japan relations, but about one of the persistent issues which could continue to undermine relations. I visited the National Memorial Ceremony for the Nanjing Massacre in Nanjing to see the situation and its implications for the Sino-Japan relations.
In order to commemorate the Nanjing Massacre, the National Memorial Ceremony is held in its namesake city every year on December 13, the same day that Nanjing fell into the hands of Imperial Japan in 1937. The ceremony was just regional before, but scaled up to the national level as the Chinese National People’s Congress set the date as a “National Memorial Day” in 2014. At ostensibly the least welcoming timing for Japanese people to go to Nanjing, however, I walked around Nanjing, visited several war-related places, and interviewed both Chinese and Japanese people.
The morning in Nanjing on December 13 was just an ordinary one with commuters. However, once it turned 10am, everything stopped and only the air defense warning sirens were wailing, reminding anyone in the city of the tragedy. People were bowing to pay tribute to the victims and cars were echoing with the sirens by sounding a horn. That was the beginning of the memorial day and the National Memorial Ceremony which brought approximately eight thousand people together at the Nanjing Massacre Museum. As the ceremony is an important national event, central government high officials also attend. Xi attended the 2017 ceremony in commemorating the 80-year anniversary of the massacre, although he did not give a speech. On the other hand, there was no top official attending the ceremony in 2018. The highest profile person sent from the government was Mr. Wang Chen, the Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress. Mr. Wang gave a speech in the ceremony and mentioned Japan by saying “Japanese invaders caused a horrific Nanjing Massacre.” However, the tone of the speech was relatively calm and moderate, especially characterized by remarks such as, “this year is the 40-year anniversary of signing the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and China” and “stable development of Sino-Japan relations match for mutual benefits and the relations greatly matter to the region and the world.” Thus, a Japanese journalist who reported the ceremony from Nanjing concluded, “this year’s ceremony was boring.” This implies that the atmosphere between Japan and China is not so hostile anymore and Sino-Japan relations are in the process of improving. Also, given the fact that Xi stayed silent in the 2017 ceremony and all other ‘friendly’ events between Japan and China in 2018 and 2019, it is clear that China is at least trying not to raise tensions with Japan and seeking a more cooperative and friendly relationship.
Even though China’s official level attitude toward Japan seemed progressive from the ceremony, a key signifier in how relations are progressing is the atmosphere in Nanjing and Chinese civilians’ feeling on Japan. I first tried to understand them from the train station right next to the Nanjing Massacre Museum, the Yunjinlu station. The station was interestingly equipped with huge walls where anyone can write their messages related to the history and there were hundreds of people from wide generation writing their thoughts. As Nanjing is typically portrayed as ‘the most anti-Japanese city in China’ by Japanese people due to the history, I expected to find Japan-related messages like 日本鬼子(literally translating as “Japanese Devil”) and carefully checked the entire walls for such messages. However, there was no message related to Japan. Most of what I found was the likes of “World Peace”, “Never forget national humiliation”, and “Strong China.” This was so surprising that I asked about this in the interviews with local Chinese and Japanese people. Answers were always similar, saying, “Nanjing just hopes for peace.” I also found the message saying, “What we have to remember is the history, not the hatred.” Based on the messages on the walls and the interviews, it was obvious that there was not as strong anti-Japanese sentiment as expected in Nanjing; the overall atmosphere was calm and it was hard to find anti-Japanese sentiment at least on a civilian level. On the other hand, there was an old couple who pointed out the message and said, “What we have to remember is not only the history, but also the hatred.” It’s also true that people in Nanjing have a special feeling on the Massacre and can never forget that. Nonetheless, there is no significant progress to promote civilian level reconciliation between Japan and China.
The observed overall calm atmosphere in Nanjing and many cooperative agreements made between Japan and China in 2018 and 2019 indicate that the Sino-Japan relations are improving and on good track for further improvement. Abe and Xi also pledged to move Sino-Japan relations from “competition to cooperation” in a 2018 Beijing summit. However, unfortunately, such improvement is only on the surface; their fundamental issues, including territorial and historical disputes, are left unchanged without any solution since the end of World War II. The current situation’s difference from 2012 is basically only whether Japan and China talk about the territorial issue or not. Therefore, even if the Sino-Japan relations ‘improved' from a high-level point of view, it indeed remains unstable and could easily result in an accidental clash over their fundamental and unresolved issues. In the past, shelving these issues may have offered some improvement to Sino-Japan relations and promoted further cooperation. However, in the time when Sino-Japan relations are expected to get even more confrontational, it is dangerous for them to leave fundamental issues unsolved. Ultimately, to build a sustainable relationship between Japan and China, they cannot continue to ignore their deeper issues, but have to face each other to meet key commitments in tackling them. Such attitude is necessary for ‘real peace and friendship’ between Japan and China.
