Kawashima True: Looking back at Abes ruling Japanese -China relations

Kawashima True

On August 28, 2020, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced his resignation.Abe has the longest in the past eight years since December 2012, the longest of the prime minister of Japan.From 2006 to 2012, if the cumulative six prime ministers replaced each year, Abe's long -term regime was rare.

Looking back at Abe's Japanese -China relations during his tenure, it can be said that before the Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit, Abe has improved the worst Japanese -China relations when he took office, but this road is endless.Below, let's review several turning points of Japanese -China relations during Abe's administration.

The first turning point was January 2014.In September 2012, in order to maintain the status quo, the Japanese government changed part of the islands (China Diaoyu Islands) from private land to state -owned land.The Chinese government protested on the so -called Jian Ge's nationalization, and Japan -China relations fell into the worst state.The worst case is that it is necessary to disconnect the exemplary exchanges, and it is difficult to conduct non -governmental exchanges.Abe was the Prime Minister in December 2012. In the next year, he did not have improved Japanese -China relations. It can be said that it was almost unprecedented.Then, in December 2013, he visited the Yasukuni Shrine. Japan -China relations can be said to have reached the lowest valley.

One month later, in January 2014, Abe mentioned that the speech (that is, the speech of the policy of governance) mentioned the improving Japanese -China relations in the speech (that is, the speech of the policy of governance).After that, the Vice President of the Liberal Democratic Party visited China, and former Prime Minister Fukuda Kangfu and others sought to improve the relationship between the two countries.Japan -China Foreign authorities also coordinated on issues such as Jiange Islands and issued four agreements in November.In November 2014, Abe visited China in order to participate in the Asia -Pacific Economic Cooperation Organization (APEC) summit, and held a Japanese leader talks again after three years.This summit talks is the first step in improving bilateral relations.

The second turning point is from August to September 2015.2015 is the 70th anniversary of the post -war. Because the historical understanding is very sensitive, it is generally worried that Japan -China relations will deteriorate.Among them, Abe's conversation published on August 14 and the content of the speech at the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Anti -Japanese War on September 3, all expressed that they did not want the Japanese -China relations to deteriorate.Of course, both sides are not completely satisfied with the content of the other party's speech, but they are generally acceptable.This year prevented the upgrading of historical understanding, which was of great significance.In September 2016, Abe visited China to participate in the Hangzhou Twenty Group (G20) Summit, and held a Japanese leader talks with Xi Jinping.

The third turning point is May to June 2017.At this time, Abe further helm to improve Japan -China relations.In May, the Liberal Democratic Party's second -step Junbo brought Abe's personal letter to China to participate in the Belt and Road International Cooperation Summit Forum.This pro -letter contains positive content such as the possibility of cooperation in the Belt and Road Initiative of Japan.In June, at the future meeting of Asia held by the Japanese Economic News Agency, Abe made a speech saying that if you can comply with the four conditions of openness, transparency, economy, and finance, Japan may cooperate in the Belt and Road.Since then, Japan and China have been promoted from the previous heads of international conferences to a separate visit to Japan.

The fourth turning point is May 4, 2018.On the same day, Xi Jinping and Abe had a telephone talk.Until the time, although the Japanese and Chinese government leaders had had telephone talks, there was no precedent for the Chinese President and the Japanese Prime Minister's telephone talks.The telephone conversation was conducted before the visit to Japan for the visit to Japan for the Japanese and Korean summit, and the exception of this time is the signal of improvement of Japan -China relations.In October of the same year, the relationship between the United States and China deteriorated. After the US Vice President Pence delivered a speech that criticized China, Abe visited China separately and created the possibility of cooperation between Japan and China and the third country.

The current Japanese -China relations can be said to be in a good relationship after the fourth turning point.In the case of deterioration of US -China relations, maintaining good Japanese -China relations is meaningful for the balance between world powers.In 2019, Xi Jinping went to Japan to participate in the G20 summit in Osaka.Xi Jinyuan originally decided to visit Japan in the spring of 2020, but it was postponed due to the crown disease epidemic.

Looking back at the Japanese -China relations that has been in power for nearly eight years, improvement can be said to be its tone.The bilateral relations have been separated from the worst situation, and the basic result is that the exchanges of the heads are generally returned to the right track.However, the improvement of these eight years is just a normalization of the relationship.For example, Japan -China relations did not return to a very good state when they reached a consensus to jointly develop the East China Sea resources in 2008.In 2010, China's GDP (GDP) surpassed Japan and could not return to 2008.

In addition, during Abe's administration, even if Japan -China relations have improved, China ’s activities around the Jianpay Island are more active, and the activities of the Chinese Navy and the Air Force on the surroundings of Japan are also active.The improvement of Japanese -China relations during Abe's ruling period is to move from negative numbers to zero, that is, the improvement of normalization, and it cannot be said to become very close.At present, Japanese folk feelings for China are also extremely bad, but it is just a close economic relationship that supports the relationship between the two countries.This situation is the same for the next Prime Minister.How the next regime will make up the results of the Japanese -China relations of the Abe regime and whether it can inherit is still unknown.

The author is a professor at the University of Tokyo, Japan