China sends new ambassador to Japan, hoping to break deadlock

Sino-Japanese relations soured terribly when Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited the Yasukuni Shrine once and again. At this critical moment, China sent its former Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi to Japan as the new ambassador, in the hope that China-Japan ties may have a favorable turn.

Wang Yi arrived in Tokyo on September 10 in the capacity of new Chinese ambassador to Japan. Meeting Chinese reporters before leaving home, Wang expressed his determination, "be wholeheartedly devoted to my duty and country, to forge ahead and fulfill my task successfully".

After decades of efforts, Wang Yi said, a fairly good political, economic and non-governmental foundation has been laid for Sino-Japanese ties. Of course, there are also problems. Wang said he would work together with the embassy staff in Japan, and, guided by the Foreign Ministry and Japan policy formulated by the central authority, make active and wide contacts with Japanese social groups.

From vice-foreign minister to Chinese ambassador to Japan, Wang Yi is reputed as a person who "is entrusted with a mission at a critical and difficult moment". Japanese media believe that by sending its Vice FM to Japan, Beijing showed high attention to diplomacy to Japan. While Chinese media expect Wang Yi, "an old Japan hand" who has long been in charge of Asia affairs, could use his supreme diplomatic tact to break the deadlock, which features continuous frictions and suspended the exchange of visits between the heads of state of Japan and China.

Koizumi has never paid an official visit to China as Japanese Prime Minister since his taking office in 2001. In nearly three years, the two countries see no exchanges of state leaders. This has been a rare case since ties normalized in 1972. Halting high-level visits, to be sure, indicate a certain degree of stagnation and retrogression in the China-Japan ties.

Frictions between the two countries have never ceased since last year. From the "August 4" prison gas leakage in Qiqihar to Japanese orgy in Zhuhai, from the "Diaoyu Island" incident to Shrine visits, from Japan's revision of pacifist constitution to disputes over exploration rights of gas in the South China Sea, and even the unpleasant match in "Asian Cup", all these resulted in increased tension. The deadlock in Sino-Japanese relations needs urgently to be broken.

Wang Yi, 51, a master of Japanese language, once worked as counselor and minister-counselor in the Chinese embassy in Japan from 1989 to 1994. He is reputed as "an old Japan hand" in China's diplomatic circles.

Wang Yi should do a good job in two aspects, according to Feng Zhaokui, research fellow with Japan Study Institute under Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Firstly, make contacts with the Japanese public and conduct local investigations as much as possible. Second, try his best to unite Japanese sects and, on top of strengthening ties with China-friendly groups, communicate with strategic and hawkish factions.

Some Japanese experts are also looking for a way to break the deadlock with China. Isogawa Tomoyoshi, China General Bureau Chief of Asahi Shimbun, who has been acquainted with Wang Yi for 15 years, pointed out that lack of mutual understanding is the root cause of many problems in China-Japan relations. To remove barriers in major disputes and enhance mutual trust between media and peoples is a "two-line" way to undo the fast knot.

However, the troubles have been brewing for quite some time, and the base of mutual trust between the two peoples has long been worn thin by a series of incidents, especially Shrine visits. Worse, Koizumi declared repeatedly that he would visit the Shrine every year. Therefore one can imagine the difficulty in breaking the ice.

Improvement of China-Japan ties can never be done with a single stroke, nor it can be achieved out of one-sided will, said Zhuo Nansheng, a Singaporean scholar and noted expert on Japan issues. He added that fundamental changes have taken place in Japan's political climate, and the influence of pacifist forces has faded away. The whole political circles of Japan tend toward being "conservative". Even one tries hard to contact Japanese social groups widely; he can no longer expect the huge non-governmental influence as seen before the normalization of the ties.

Under a clear-cut guiding policy toward Japan, Chinese diplomats should stick firmly to their positions and principles, otherwise Japanese would seize their weak points to attack them, Zhuo pointed out.

Proper handling of historical questions is a long-term and sophisticated process of struggles between China and Japan, said former Chinese ambassador to Japan Yang Zhenya.

Article on China Youth Daily, translated by Peoples' Daily Online