Abe's Visit to Beijing, the Opening Gambit for the Normalization of Sino-Japanese Relations

 Abe's Visit to Beijing, the Opening Gambit for the Normalization of Sino-Japanese Relations

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

October 28, 2018
 Translation of an Excerpt

With the start of the US-China trade war, Shinzo Abe sent timely warmth to the Chinese Mainland; he led an economic delegation of 500 on an ice-breaking tour to Beijing. Driven by the same warmth, the Mainland also changed its erstwhile cold attitude, giving Abe a high-profile reception. Not only did Prime Minister Li Keqiang and Abe jointly attend the 40^th anniversary commemoration of the Sino-Japanese Treaty of Peace and Amity, but Xi Jinping also personally hosted a banquet for Abe.

Since Abe took office, he has always observed a one-sided pro-US policy, using the solid US-Japan alliance as a bedrock, he has always followed the US policy of rebalancing to Asia and volunteered to be a vanguard in containing China. Nevertheless, after Trump, who stressed America first, came to power, he not only asked Japan to share the military expenditures of US troops stationed in Japan, but also, using cutting US-Japan trade deficits as grounds, threatened to engage in a trade war with Japan. At the same time, Trump withdrew from the TPP, which aimed at the economic containment of China. All these developments made Japan begin to question whether the US's Asia-Pacific strategy had undergone qualitative changes, also making the forces of Japan's domestic Asian faction lift their head, which advocated improving Sino-Japanese relations, making the diplomatic pendulum swing back again to the balanced policy between the US and China.

Viewed from the practical side, Japan’s own economic considerations have compelled the Sino-Japanese relationship to switch from political confrontation to economic partnership. The Chinese Mainland is Japan's largest trading partner and also the second largest investment destination. The top 100 Japanese firms have nearly all invested in and set up factories on the Mainland; while Trump raised tariffs on imports from the Mainland, it naturally has had a great impact on Japanese firms indirectly. This is why Abe will, based on whether the US-China trade war will be sustaining, consider it as an important indicator to decide whether to raise the consumption tax in October next year; this is also the main reason Abe wants to join the Mainland-led One Belt, One Road initiative, so as to seek business opportunities for Japanese firms.

President Tsai not long ago appealed for Taiwan and Japan to jointly explore cooperation in third countries, hoping that Japan would become a dynamo for this nation’s push for the New Southward Policy. Now, Abe has turned to China engaging in economic cooperation with the Mainland in Southeast Asia, making this appeal sound extremely ironic.

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