Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Wenxiong visited South Korea from May 7th to 8th.This is the first time that the Japanese Prime Minister visited South Korea since Abe's participation in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in early 2018.On March 16, Yin Xiyue was the first South Korean president to officially visit Japan in 12 years.In April, Japan and South Korea's security dialogue and Minister of Finance had official talks. After a lapse of five and seven years, Japan canceled restrictions on the export of semiconductor materials in South Korea in 2019.Two weeks later, Yin Xiyue would also go to Japan to participate in the expansion meeting of the Seventh Kingdom Group Summit.This means that the "leader shuttle diplomacy" that leaders met with three months of leaders in two months was launched, and it seemed that Japan -South Korea relations improved amazing.
Kishida said that the relationship between Japan and South Korea has been on track and opens a new chapter together.Generally speaking, regional countries, especially neighboring countries to improve relations, are positive for regional peace and stability. However, whether the main driving force is exogenous or endogenous, it will determine the quality and persistence of improvement of the relationship.Although it is earlier to make conclusions now, Japan -South Korea relations still have not stepped out of the external force -promoting model.
The history of the development of Japan -South Korea relations under the leadership of the United States
Japan and South Korea relations can be said to start and develop and lack autonomy under the leadership of the United States.Every time I look at the Basic Relations Treaty of Japan and South Korea signed in 1965 (the first formal diplomatic document opened by Japan and South Korea relations, referred to as the treaty), I would be surprised.If this document is compared with the normalized documents of the Sino -Japanese diplomatic relations in 1972, you will see the fuzzyness of the history of the history of Japanese and Korean relations.
First of all, the treaty did not mention Japan's colonial history of South Korea, and Japan did not make a statement of colonial history.In 1972, the Sino -Japanese joint statement wrote: "The pain in Japan's pain in Japan has expressed profound reflection in the past in Japan in the past due to the major damage caused by war to the Chinese people."The historical background of the relationship is a common desire for normalization of relationships on the basis of mutual respect and sovereignty.As a Japanese that directly annex in Japan, there is no historical problem in the formal document where the relationship between the two parties has normalized. It is shocking.
Second, the treaty was written before the two parties recalled the relevant provisions of the Japanese Peace Treaty signed on September 8, 1951. Japan and South Korea concluded the basic relationship between the two countries.In other words, the treaty is a derivative of San Francisco to Japan and the Treaty.The China -Japan joint statement wrote: "The people of the two countries are looking at the end of the two countries. The end of the state of war and the normalization of China -Japan diplomatic relations.A new page in the history of national relations. "Article 2 of the Basic Treaty of Japan and South Korea is to confirm that Japan and South Korea are invalidated on August 22, 1910 (Japan and South Korea's merger treaty) or the previous treaty and agreement.Therefore, how to position the colonial history from 1910 to 1945 is blurred.
The normalization of Japan and South Korea relations is a "reconciliation" based on the San Francisco system led by the United States, not the real "autonomy reconciliation" between Japan and South Korea.square.For the United States, the improvement of Japan and South Korea's relations is mainly due to its international strategic interests, and has no interest in promoting real historical reconciliation and territorial dispute resolution.After the 1960s, with the outbreak of the Vietnamese war, the United States was anxious to improve Japan and South Korea to improve relations. In addition, Japan's domestic security system against the US -Japan security system calmed down, and Japan and South Korea's relations were normalized to the agenda of the United States.Driven by the United States, Japan and South Korea relations are normalized.
Similarly, in 2015, Japan and South Korea reached an agreement on consolation women's problems. In the background of the Asia -Pacific rebalancing strategy of the Obama government in the United States, there is an urgent need for the two Asian alliances of Japan and South Korea.In 2014, Obama held a third -side talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Park Geun -hye during the Hague summit.Under the mediation of the United States, Japan and South Korea reached an agreement on the solution of the comfort women's problem at the end of 2015, but it turns out that the reconciliation of Japan and South Korea under the mediation of the United States is short -lived.
New external forces of "common interests of security"
For the rapid improvement of this round of Japanese and Korean relations, some analysis believes that during the extremely deteriorating period of Japanese and Korean relations in the past 10 years, major changes have undergone the international and regional situation.The relatively decline of the United States, the further rise of China, and the unprecedented development of North Korean nuclear guidance capabilities, challenged the security of Japan and South Korea.This time, both sides of the Japanese and South Korea emphasized the historical turning period, recognized the tremendous changes in international relations, and set their own national interests to promote the improvement of the relationship.This seems to mean that Japan -South Korea relations are strengthened, which is no longer the requirements or pressure of the United States, but caused by the common interests of the two countries. The subtext is to get out of the original Japanese -Korean relations management model that was originally medial.However, the common interests of security are still an external force promotion type.
First of all, the way of covering historical problems through security logic seems to have not obtained sufficient domestic politics and social resonance.
A survey by the Korean media KBS shows that there are as many as 53.1%of the wrong people who believe that Yin Xiyue's decision.They believe that the South Korean government's defeat against Japan has accepted Japan's logic completely.Although Yin Xiyue has four years, if the political and public foundation is weak, whether the president can always maintain the current resolute political leadership during the four -year window period, there are great uncertainty, and old problems such as historical territory may reappear at any time.Essence
Secondly, to determine the common interests of the security of the security, covering the cooperation issues, which will cause regional tensions to upgrade.The imaginary enemy defined in South Korea is North Korea. In February 2023, it released the latest Korean defense white paper. It was written directly into North Korea as an enemy after 16 years.Japan is mainly targeted at China in security.In the process of improving Japan and South Korea relations, there are signs of security on the security of the Taiwan Strait and the Korean Peninsula. In order to correspond to the so -called "at the same time", we must strengthen the common deterrence.This is essentially the logic of the "integrated deterrent" proposed by the Biden government. The United States regards Northeast Asia as a theater.If the United States, Japan, and the United States and South Korea alliances become three -sides, it will mean that the status quo of the security structure in Northeast Asia has changed drastically, leading to further imbalance in the security order in the region.
To achieve long -term stability in Northeast Asia, it is necessary to further integrated the economy and society in East Asia to dissolve military deterrent integration and truly realize regional autonomy.A good result of the improvement of Japan and South Korea's relations this time is to provide an opportunity for the recovery of China -Japan -South Korea cooperation.Similarly, Japan and South Korea relations must be sustainable and stable and developed, and ultimately need to get out of the external force promotion model.
The author is an associate professor at the National Niigata University of Japan
Senior visiting scholar of Berlin Free University
