Sino-Japanese Relations

Throughout history, the relationship between China and Japan has more often than not been marked by mistrust and animosity, or even violent conflict. Despite three decades of normalized bilateral relations, several past and present issues serve to complicate the relation between the two states. Since a positive and functioning relationship between China and Japan, the two great powers in Northeast Asia, in many ways is a prerequisite for peace and stability in the region, a souring bilateral relationship is not only problematic for the states involved, but has implications for neighboring states and the international community at large. Against this background, it has become increasingly important to understand, identify and implement measures that can prevent and manage conflicts and disputes between these two states.

This said, the Sino-Japanese relations have been on the mend since Shinzo Abe (安倍晋三) assumed the Prime Minister's office in September 2006. His visit to China in October 2006 and the reciprocal visits of Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao (温家宝) in April 2007 and President Hu Jintao in May 2008 facilitated the further thawing of bilateral relations under the framework of "mutually beneficial relationship based on common strategic relationship." A substantial number of additional events have indicated the continuation of the positive trend in the strengthening of the bilateral relations. As one example, in one attempt to initiate debate on the issue of historical perception on the 20th century Sino-Japanese relations, a joint committee of Chinese and Japanese historians was established in an effort to reach a certain understanding of each other´s perception of common history, mainly the atrocities from the Second World War. On the military side, the establishment of a hot-line in November 2007 and the port visits by the fleets represented important confidence building measures. Furthermore, China and Japan are in fact sustaining injured US dollar economy under current severe financial crisis. This may provide more opportunity for cooperation between the two countries. All of these bilateral efforts have been very positive.

Yet, on the other hand, several issues continue to pose obstacles in building long-term confidence between the two Asian giants. First, mutual images among people in both countries have not improved. Some opinion polls show us mutual images have been worsening even after recent improvement of the two countries. And, the interpretation of common history remains an unresolved issue, which usually emerges in discussions of bilateral relations. Additionally, territorial disputes (East China Sea), competition in the quest for energy resources, Japan´s bid to join the UN Security Council as a permanent member, the Taiwan Strait issue, the US-Japan alliance, the development of a missile defense system in Japan, and the continuous increase in China's spending continue to pose obstacles to long-term stability and peace consolidation in Northeast Asia. Despite the overall improved relations there are very little structural thinking about how to move the Sino-Japanese relations to the next level and how to institutionalize security dialogues at the regional and international level.

The recent crisis over the Korean peninsula shows that it is necessary to adopt additional measures that would address multilateral issues and to bring the improved bilateral relationship beyond mere crisis management and to focus more on measures providing long-term stability and secure channels of information-sharing and trust building. The bilateral relations seem to have direct problems in projecting their needs on a regional level and to increase trust on the regional level and in regional issues. As the regions two most important actors and two major powers in international relations the deficit in cooperation in regional structures impedes the regional cooperation and integration to a high level.

This project addresses the relationship between China and Japan from a conflict management and conflict prevention perspective. It will examine the bilateral relations but also how the current situation is holding together and what is needed to move beyond the haphazard level of cooperation in Northeast Asia, this especially as the Six-party talks seem to have broken down. The primary focus will be in Chinese and Japanese perceptions on the bilateral situation and the potential and need for multilateral structures.

The first book by Swanström and Kokubun from the project came out in 2008.