In August 1978, Japan and China signed a treaty of peace and friendship in Japan, and took effect in October of the same year.2023 is the 45th anniversary of the conclusion of the treaty.Although some commemorative activities were held between the middle of Japan, as the 50th anniversary of the normalization of the Japanese and Chinese diplomatic relations in 2022, there was a lack of "enthusiastic" atmosphere.At present, East Asia's military tension has intensified, and has a strong desire for "peace and stability". Although the treaty is particularly important for now, it seems that the movement of trying to return to the origin of the treaty does not seem obvious.
Japan -China Peace and Friendship Treaty wrote in the first article: "The two parties confirmed that in the relationship, use peaceful means to solve all disputes without resorting to the threat of force and force."The two parties have shown that either party should seek hegemony in Asia and the Pacific region or any other region, and oppose any other country or national group's efforts to establish this hegemony. "However, the treaty content is of great significance for East Asia, which is now tense.
In October 2018, the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who visited China on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the conclusion of the peace and friendly treaty in Japan, said: "In front of the navigation of our two countries, it is a vast sea of cooperation.The interview with China will work together with you and let the Japanese -China -China friendly ships keep driving far ahead. "However, five years later, in October 2023, Japan -China relations were in a severe situation. Although the "Japanese -China Friendship Ship" was moving forward, the cooperation of the ocean was not very broad.
In the public opinion survey conducted by the Japanese think tank "NPO" in 2023, whether to know whether to know whether this year is the 45th anniversary of the conclusion of the peace and friendly treaty of Japan.52%.As one of the four basic documents that specifies Japan -China relations, the treaty ushered in the 45th anniversary of conclusion, especially in Japan, and it is almost unknown.In other words, there are not many reports on the media.In addition, the question about whether the treaty's "play a role now", Japan answered only 7.4%of the "play effect", which was further reduced from 8.3%last year.On the contrary, those who answered "play a role" in China increased from 30.3%last year to 34.6%this year.However, China answered that "did not play a role" from 58%to 68.1%.This shows that in China, some people think that it is precisely because of the treaty that military conflicts are directly caused by a treaty. On the contrary, the military situation is constantly tense because this treaty does not play a role and has different views.
The public opinion survey of NPOs, including "Will East Asia burst out of military disputes soon?" This question.There are also great differences in the opinions of the Japanese.Japan believes that "disputes are approaching" 27.4%, and do not think so 24.8%.China has 40.2%and 46.3%, respectively, and is divided into autumn.However, if you remove the "soon", the military tension between China and the middle of China is particularly high.As a question about "Is there a military dispute between Japan and the middle and the middle of Japan", Chinese answered "will happen" from 51%last year to 58%.On the contrary, in Japan, the people who answered "will happen" have reduced 4.3 percentage points.It can be seen that the understanding of the situation is different from the middle of Japan.
This is because China recognize that the tension is intensifying.Moreover, as a region with the possibility of military disputes, most of China answered the Taiwan Strait; but in Japan, the answer is the Korean Peninsula and the Taiwan Strait.In addition, China regards the East China Sea as a dangerous area, but there is almost no such tendency in Japan.In China, "Taiwan has something" is considered to be caused by the United States and Japan.This is that Japanese society believes that China ’s military aggression in Taiwan is a understanding of Taiwan’ s things, which is very different.In Chinese society, the relationship with Taiwan and the speech of Japanese and American politicians from Japan and the United States, etc., are worried about provoking "Taiwan's things" from Japan and the United States and Taiwan.
Although there is a difference in understanding between the middle of the Japanese, the sound of worrying about military conflicts has indeed improved to a certain extent.Because of this, "in mutual relationships, use peaceful means to solve all disputes without resorting to the threat of force and force."There is a situation of military tensions.
How can we make Japan -China peace and friendly treaties more effective?The effectiveness of the treaty in Japan and China does exist in improving safety guarantee, but it is also necessary to create more opportunities for "peace" on the "peace" advocated by the treaty, and re -confirm this spirit through the scenes such as summit meetings.In addition, through this dialogue, it can also prevent judgment based on error information to a certain extent and fill the gap of understanding.
(the author is a professor at the University of Tokyo)
