Japan’s Wisdom in Rushing Aid to Wuhan

 Japan’s Wisdom in Rushing Aid to Wuhan

China Times Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

February 5, 2020

 Translation of an Excerpt

The Wuhan pneumonia epidemic continues to escalate; the situation shows a prolonged trend and a tendency to spread globally. The impact on the global economy could not be underestimated; most countries are on heightened guard. The East Asian area’s economic linkage with China is deeper than that of Europe and the US, thus they cannot be disassociated from this epidemic. Especially Japan, it has been watching the changes in the epidemic situation with all nerves strained and proactively coping with it. This not only concerns the health of Japanese citizens, but the Japanese economy also hinges on it. According to an estimate of the Nikkei Stock Market Firm of Japan, the novel coronavirus epidemic has caused the first quarter economic growth rate of Japan to slump by 0.4%, representing a loss of ¥500 billion in an initial estimate. If the epidemic is prolonged, it would be difficult to assess its impact on Japanese industries.

Amid the epidemic crisis, "Abe diplomacy" exhibited Japan's unique diplomatic thinking different from the US realism. Japan will not “sweep the snow in front of its own house”, seeking solely border control in order to stop the epidemic beyond its frontiers; instead, Japan is “rushing charcoal” to China “in heavy snows”. Although it knows that resources for epidemic prevention and control may be strained, Japan is still shipping, on an emergency basis, medical supplies to Wuhan. Japan believes that only by helping China to eradicate the epidemic can the world truly shake off the threat of novel coronavirus. On the outside of the crates containing relief supplies, in addition to four huge kanji characters加油！中國 (Go China!), Japan chose the Zen chanting “山川異域，風月同天” (mountains and rivers in an exotic land, but the winds and the moon in the same skies) of monk Jian Zhen of the Tang Dynasty who went to Japan to proselytize Buddhism to be printed on the same crates, telling everything about the “kizuna” relationship between China and Japan, which could not be cut off. Wang Bin, deputy director of the Center for Taiwan and East Asia Studies at Huachung Normal University in Wuhan, said candidly, "Abe scored big for Japan's image in China."

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