Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
New York Times
June 25, 2008 By Howard W. French
SHANGHAI — A Japanese destroyer docked at a heavily guarded naval base in Guangdong Province on Tuesday for a five-day port call, the first by a warship from Japan in China since World War II.
The visit by the 4,650-ton destroyer Sazanami, officially an earthquake relief mission, is seen by many military and diplomatic analysts as part of a broad and gradual reconciliation between the countries, which has quickened since President Hu Jintao of China visited Japan in May.
“When a naval vessel visits, it sends a clear signal that the countries have buried the hatchet and are working for peace,” said Gao Hong, director of the political research office of the Chinese Academy of Social Science’s Japanese Research Institute. “This is the clearest sign yet of the improvement in relations between the two countries. It says they no longer harbor animosity toward each other.”
Mr. Hu’s visit was the first by a Chinese head of state in a decade, and commentators in each country viewed it as having moved Japan and China toward a closer, friendlier working relationship.
Relations between the neighbors have long been cool, mostly because of China’s resentment of Japan’s conquest and occupation of China from 1931 to 1945.
Mr. Hu’s visit was quickly followed by the devastating earthquake in Sichuan Province on May 12 that killed almost 70,000 people, and Japan earned a measure of good will here by being among the first countries to provide aid.
Last week, the two countries agreed on terms for the joint development of natural gas fields in disputed territorial waters of the East China Sea.
Each step in the reconciliation has brought reminders, however, of the depth of nationalist sentiment in China and of the lingering antipathy toward Japan in some quarters. The ship’s visit, for example, was originally planned for early June, Chinese news media reported, but was postponed, ostensibly because of its political delicacy.
As it is, the port call has been closed to most news media, and will be unusually low key for a good-will mission. The conservative Japanese daily Sankei Shimbun, for example, reported that a performance by a Japanese naval band had been canceled and that Japanese media access to the port had been restricted.
“We are considering the possible reaction of the Chinese people,” said Takashi Sekine, a Japanese Defense Ministry spokesman, Reuters reported. “We need to consider the situation.”
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Liu Jianchao, denied that the Chinese public opposed the visit. “Strengthening our exchanges and cooperation in the field of defense will be supported by the people, and I don’t think there will be any public anger,” he said at a news conference in Beijing.
The recent agreement over the development of gas fields in the East China Sea, however, illustrated the continued delicacy of political developments involving Japan. Beijing handled the announcement of the agreement with unusual circumspection, and as word of the deal spread, many Chinese Internet commentators quickly expressed outrage. Chinese censors have removed many of the comments.
On Tuesday, a similar flurry of blogging occurred, with one commentator writing, “as long as Japan hasn’t made a formal apology for the history of invading into China, hasn’t stopped the domestic action of glorifying the invading history, we will oppose any of the Japanese military force coming again into China.”
June 25, 2008 By Howard W. French
SHANGHAI — A Japanese destroyer docked at a heavily guarded naval base in Guangdong Province on Tuesday for a five-day port call, the first by a warship from Japan in China since World War II.
The visit by the 4,650-ton destroyer Sazanami, officially an earthquake relief mission, is seen by many military and diplomatic analysts as part of a broad and gradual reconciliation between the countries, which has quickened since President Hu Jintao of China visited Japan in May.
“When a naval vessel visits, it sends a clear signal that the countries have buried the hatchet and are working for peace,” said Gao Hong, director of the political research office of the Chinese Academy of Social Science’s Japanese Research Institute. “This is the clearest sign yet of the improvement in relations between the two countries. It says they no longer harbor animosity toward each other.”
Mr. Hu’s visit was the first by a Chinese head of state in a decade, and commentators in each country viewed it as having moved Japan and China toward a closer, friendlier working relationship.
Relations between the neighbors have long been cool, mostly because of China’s resentment of Japan’s conquest and occupation of China from 1931 to 1945.
Mr. Hu’s visit was quickly followed by the devastating earthquake in Sichuan Province on May 12 that killed almost 70,000 people, and Japan earned a measure of good will here by being among the first countries to provide aid.
Last week, the two countries agreed on terms for the joint development of natural gas fields in disputed territorial waters of the East China Sea.
Each step in the reconciliation has brought reminders, however, of the depth of nationalist sentiment in China and of the lingering antipathy toward Japan in some quarters. The ship’s visit, for example, was originally planned for early June, Chinese news media reported, but was postponed, ostensibly because of its political delicacy.
As it is, the port call has been closed to most news media, and will be unusually low key for a good-will mission. The conservative Japanese daily Sankei Shimbun, for example, reported that a performance by a Japanese naval band had been canceled and that Japanese media access to the port had been restricted.
“We are considering the possible reaction of the Chinese people,” said Takashi Sekine, a Japanese Defense Ministry spokesman, Reuters reported. “We need to consider the situation.”
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Liu Jianchao, denied that the Chinese public opposed the visit. “Strengthening our exchanges and cooperation in the field of defense will be supported by the people, and I don’t think there will be any public anger,” he said at a news conference in Beijing.
The recent agreement over the development of gas fields in the East China Sea, however, illustrated the continued delicacy of political developments involving Japan. Beijing handled the announcement of the agreement with unusual circumspection, and as word of the deal spread, many Chinese Internet commentators quickly expressed outrage. Chinese censors have removed many of the comments.
On Tuesday, a similar flurry of blogging occurred, with one commentator writing, “as long as Japan hasn’t made a formal apology for the history of invading into China, hasn’t stopped the domestic action of glorifying the invading history, we will oppose any of the Japanese military force coming again into China.”