Since taking office last month, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's government has chosen to follow the old path of his predecessors and align Japan with the United States' strategy to contain China. Such a policy puts overall Sino-Japanese ties in a predicament.
According to Japanese media reports, Japan is mulling hosting a second summit of the Quad countries, the quadrilateral security dialogue the United States has formed with Japan, Australia and India, sometime next year.
Japan is also reportedly considering revising its National Security Strategy at the end of 2022, and observers believe the new version, while highlighting the need to strengthen the US-Japan alliance, might include the Taiwan question and the Diaoyu Islands issue, which will further strain Japan's relations with China. Tokyo is clearly miscalculating the situation as the US is only interested in fishing for its own interests in the region. In the US-Japan alliance, Washington has always played a dominant role showing little regard for Japan's interests.
Forming an exclusive alliance and targeting another country are typical of Japan's outdated Cold War mentality. The attempt of the US and Japan to form an anti-China bloc runs counter to the trend of the times, which increasingly opts for cooperation and multilateralism.
As next year marks the 50th anniversary of the normalization of Sino-Japanese diplomatic ties, the bilateral relationship is again at a crossroad. Tokyo should stop making provocative moves and do more to help bilateral ties to move forward on more stable terrain.
It should review the original intention of the normalization of diplomatic relations, abide by the spirit of the four political documents between the two countries, continue the mission of promoting Sino-Japanese friendly cooperation, and work with Beijing to create brighter prospects for bilateral ties over the next 50 years.
The entirety of China-Japan relations over the past almost five decades shows Japan stands to gain from maintaining healthy ties with China and the interests between the two countries far exceed their differences.
Last month, the 2021 China-Japan relations public opinion survey found a majority of the respondents in both countries citing US pressure as an obstacle for the improvement of China-Japan ties, while more than half of the Japanese respondents said their country should not "pick sides", far exceeding the number who preferred to side with the US.
The Japanese government should heed the voice of the people and view China's development through a more rational lens. It should maintain strategic independence and avoid strategic misjudgment so that its alliance with the US does not cast more shadows on Sino-Japanese ties.
Disagreements between countries are unavoidable, and the key to sound relations is to properly manage and control them and prevent them from defining and dominating bilateral ties. Rebuilding mutual trust and consolidating the political foundation of bilateral relations are the key to improving Sino-Japanese relations.