01 Viewpoint

Recently, Kyodo News from Japan said that the Japanese government rejected the invitation of the United States and Britain, and issued a joint statement on the Hong Kong version of the National Security Law to condemn China.Earlier, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan had issued a statement saying that Japan had a deep relationship with Hong Kong, and had deep concerns about the passing of the Hong Kong version of the National Security Law.After the report reported, the Japanese people's response tended to be negative. Some celebrities such as football star Honda Keisuke also posted on social media that they could not accept it.It can be seen from the controversy of the National Security Law that Sino -Japanese relations have been very subtle in recent years. The Japanese government and the people have a big difference in attitude towards China. However, if you carefully study the interaction between the two countries in recent years, it is not difficult to discover this kind of attitude similar to schizophrenia.It is leading the development of Sino -Japanese relations.

Two layers of Japan

Japan's view of the Hong Kong version of the National Security Law is very subtle.From the perspective of media and folk public opinion, the Japanese are almost dissatisfied with China. Many celebrities of social celebrities will symbolize their speech to support Hong Kong's democracy and freedom.However, the Japanese government's attitude towards China is more complicated.Regardless of whether the news of the Kyodo News Agency is accurate, the official attitude of the Japanese law is very cautious about the National Security Law, and it does avoid direct conflict with China.

The issue of the Hong Kong version of the National Security Law reflects a two -layer structure of Japan's relations with Chinese relations in recent years.To understand the first step of Sino -Japanese relations, first of all, Japan cannot be regarded as a whole, but the government must be separated from the people.In terms of the people, the Japanese people have a bad impression of China for many years.According to the public opinion survey by the NPO of Japan and China International Publishing Group, the Japanese people who have a bad impression on China have been higher than that since the start of the 2005 investigation.The proportion of bad impression in 2007 has increased, and it has reached 93%in the highest peak in 2014. Even if it has fallen in recent years, 84.7%of the latest surveys in 2019 still have a good impression.

The Japanese government's attitude towards China is much more complicated.It can be seen from the words and deeds of senior Japanese government officials that these elites may not like China like ordinary Japanese.However, in the actual actions of the country, the Japanese government must not maintain a considerable degree of goodwill to China.The main reason is that the Japanese economy and the Chinese economy are highly integrated.In the early years, many Japanese companies moved production lines to China to reduce costs. In recent years, with the maturity of the Chinese consumer market, more and more Japanese companies are more and more popular in the Chinese market as the driving force for future growth.Large -scale multinational companies in Japan have a great influence on Japanese politics. When most Japanese companies hope to have a more friendly relationship with China, Japan's political elite cannot be ignored and must show some goodwill to China.

Coupled with the US President Trump took office, the United States threatened to trade with allies, including Japan, and its US priority policy has also reduced its international status, further forcing Japanese political elites to think about how to find development outside the United States.Out of the way.China, as the largest economy outside the United States, has deep development potential, and naturally has become the target of Japanese political elites.In recent years, Japan's relationship with the Chinese government's government and China has rapidly heated up, which further reflects the tendency of Japanese political elites to Chinese.

People's perception and national interests

The two -layer structure between the Japanese government and the public is difficult to understand whether Sino -Japanese relations are good or bad at a certain extent.On the one hand, the Japanese people generally do not have a good opinion of China or even hate the CCP; however, the government has adopted almost different attitudes, and in recent years, it has become increasingly improving relationships with China.

From the above polls, it can be found that the reason why the Japanese people are impressed by China mainly come from two reasons: one is the historic issues of the Sino -Japanese War and the East China Sea boundary; the other is that they do not agree with the Chinese Communist regime.Historical factors are the deadline of Sino -Japanese relations to some extent, and it can only be relieved by time.But in addition, most of the reasons for the negative impressions of the Japanese are also subjective feelings. There is no great interest relationship, and it is not even related to the future development of the country.However, the choice of Japanese political elites and companies to be good at China is the factors based on national interests and development.Therefore, it can be said that Japan's split attitude towards China is reflecting a fundamental conflict between the Japanese people's perception and national interests.

So how will Sino -Japanese relations develop in this two layers of structure?Of course, we cannot predict the future, but it is not difficult to get some inspiration from Sino -Japanese relations in recent years.As a election government, the Liberal Democratic Party, which has been in power for many years, must also rely on domestic right -wing support.Japan's conservative right -wing discussion tends to hostile China and emphasizes the importance of the Japanese and American alliances.To please them, it is impossible for the Japanese government to directly play the banner of pro -China, and it can only show China from time to time.However, these toughness and criticisms are often just on the surface, and they often pay attention to not challenging China's bottom line, and there is no practical effect.

For example, the Japanese government expressed its support for free and democracy in Hong Kong on the issue of the National Security Law of the Hong Kong version, and concluded the American, British and domestic people, but in fact, there was no action except for deep concerns.In the new crown epidemic, in the United States, Japan said that the epidemic came from China, but it was also tested. Even if it supports the survey of the origin of the virus, it is not targeted at China.After the outbreak of China, it was rumored that the Japanese government would launch a subsidy plan for Japanese companies to transfer production lines to Southeast Asia or return to Japan. However, market research in May reflects that most Japanese companies do not have much interest.

It is not difficult to find that, in addition to these cautious criticisms and conflict between the waters of the Diaoyu Islands, the Japanese government is more often promoting the economic and trade development of China -Japan, and is committed to deepening the cooperative relationship between the two countries.On the other hand, under the pressure of the Chinese government in the United States, in recent years, they have also actively hoped to establish a deeper cooperative relationship with Japan.China also seems to have established a certain tacit understanding with the Japanese government, and has not responded much to the authorities' cautious actions, establishing a good platform for the promotion of relations between the two countries.The Chinese President Xi Jinyuan's visit to Japan this year is likely to bring breakthroughs to China -Japan cooperation. However, it will be postponed by the new crown epidemic situation to the next year.On the other hand, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP), including China, Japan, and Asia, was originally expected to be signed within this year, or it may be postponed due to the new crown epidemic.These reflect all that China -Japan relations will probably continue to develop under such steps and two steps in the future.