30th australia japan relations essay contest 2012
The countries are geographically separated by the East China Sea. Japan has been strongly influenced throughout history by China with its language , architecture , culture , religion , philosophy , and law. When it opened trade relations with the West in the midth century, Japan plunged itself through an active process of Westernization during the Meiji Restoration in adopting Western European cultural influences, and began viewing China as an antiquated civilization, unable to defend itself against Western forces in part due to the First and Second Opium Wars and Anglo-French Expeditions from the s to the s. According to Chinese government, the relationship between China and Japan has been strained at times by Japan's refusal to acknowledge its wartime past to the satisfaction of China.
China–Japan relations
The countries are geographically separated by the East China Sea. Japan has been strongly influenced throughout history by China with its language , architecture , culture , religion , philosophy , and law.
When it opened trade relations with the West in the midth century, Japan plunged itself through an active process of Westernization during the Meiji Restoration in adopting Western European cultural influences, and began viewing China as an antiquated civilization, unable to defend itself against Western forces in part due to the First and Second Opium Wars and Anglo-French Expeditions from the s to the s.
According to Chinese government, the relationship between China and Japan has been strained at times by Japan's refusal to acknowledge its wartime past to the satisfaction of China. However, according to Japanese government, the expansion of People's Liberation Army and its assertive actions have been damaging the bilateral relation. Revisionist comments made by prominent Japanese officials and some Japanese history textbooks regarding the Nanking Massacre have been a focus of particular controversy.
China's and Japan's economies are respectively the world's second and third-largest economies by nominal GDP. China was also the biggest destination for Japanese exports in The enmity between these two countries emanated from the history of the Japanese war and the imperialism and maritime disputes in the East China Sea Xing, Thus, as much as these two nations are close business partners, there is an undercurrent of tension, which the leaders from both sides are trying to quell.
The main argument among observers and commentators is whether the relationship between China and Japan would remain stable due to their strong bilateral trades or the relationship would collapse due to the historical rivalry and enmity Xing, There has been increasingly large mutual dislike, hatred, and hostility between Japanese and Chinese people in recent years.
Despite the conflicts, China and Japan have been steadily improving their relationships, with both sides remarking that they will be focusing on developing healthy ties, signalling towards a "new start". Both countries have started to cooperate in numerous areas, including boosting global trade and Asia's economic activities, working hand-in-hand on One Belt One Road Initiative , [6] setting up maritime and air contact system for better communication, as well as holding several high level meetings and consultations.
China and Japan are geographically separated only by a relatively narrow stretch of ocean. China has strongly influenced Japan with its writing system, architecture, culture, religion, philosophy, and law. When Western countries forced Japan to open trading in the midth century, Japan moved towards modernization Meiji Restoration , viewing China as an antiquated civilization, unable to defend itself against Western forces in part due to the First and Second Opium Wars along with Anglo-French Expeditions from the s to the s.
Japan's long chain of invasions and war crimes in China between and as well as modern Japan's attitude towards its past are major issues affecting current Sino-Japanese relations.
After the establishment of the People's Republic of China PRC in , relations with Japan changed from hostility and an absence of contact to cordiality and extremely close cooperation in many fields. Japan was defeated and Japanese military power dismantled but the PRC continued to view Japan as a potential threat because of the presence of United States Forces Japan in the region.
On the other hand, some Japanese fear that the economic and military power of the PRC has been increasing cf. Potential superpowers China. The Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance included the provision that each side would protect the other from an attack by "Japan or any state allied with it" and the PRC undoubtedly viewed with alarm Japan's role as the principal US military base during the Korean War.
The Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan signed in also heightened the discouragement of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
In Japan pushed dissension between the two countries even further by concluding a peace treaty with the ROC Republic of China, or Taiwan and establishing diplomatic relations with the Taiwanese authorities.
Like most Western nations at the time, Japan had recognized Taipei as the sole legitimate Chinese government. Initially, neither country allowed its political differences to stand in the way of broadening unofficial contacts, and in the mids they exchanged an increasing number of cultural, labor, and business delegations.
Liao Chengzhi , the deputy director of the State Council's Office of Foreign Affairs , was able to arrange many other agreements "such as the repatriation of Japanese prisoners of war with the Japanese Red Cross , and the Fishery Agreement with the Japan-China Fishery Association The agreements were essential in bringing together a more amalgamated environment.
The PRC began a policy of attempting to influence the Japan through trade, "people's diplomacy", contacts with Japanese opposition political parties, and through applying pressure on Tokyo to sever ties with Taipei. In , however, the PRC suspended its trade with Japan—apparently convinced that trade concessions were ineffective in achieving political goals.
Thereafter, in a plan for improving political relations, the PRC requested that the Japanese government not be hostile toward it, not obstruct any effort to restore normal relations between itself and Japan, and not join in any conspiracy to create two Chinas.
The PRC was left with few options, one of which was to have a more official relationship with Japan. Subsequent protest from the ROC caused Japan to shelve further deferred-payment plant exports.
Behind the United States of America, China and Japan take the second and the third position respectively of the largest economies in the world. This is a huge exchange meaning that the trade ties between these two nations are one of the largest trading partnerships around the world. Economic studies reveal that the economic relationship between China and Japan started a long time ago when China started to import industrial goods to build its manufacturing infrastructure Fuhrmann, Some of the goods that were imported include; machinery, equipment, steel mills, and the transportation infrastructure such as bridges, railways, roads and airports.
Reports reveal that China major imports these goods from Japan and Germany. Sino-Japanese ties declined again during the Cultural Revolution , and the decline was further exacerbated by Japan 's growing strength and independence from the United States in the late s. As the turmoil subsided, however, the Japanese government— already under pressure both from the pro-Beijing factions in the LDP and from opposition elements— sought to adopt a more forward posture.
Tanaka assumed a normalization of the Sino-Japanese relations. Furthermore, the Nixon visit to China encouraged the normalization process. His visit to Beijing culminated in the signing a joint statement on September 29, It established diplomatic relations between Japan and the PRC.
China renounced its demand for war reparation from Japan. The Japanese agreed on the political status of Taiwan. Subsequently, the bilateral economic relationships grew rapidly: 28 Japanese and 30 Chinese economic and trade missions visited their partner country.
The PRC insisted the anti- hegemony clause, which was directed at the Soviet Union , be included in the treaty. Japan objected the clause and did not wish to get involved in the Sino-Soviet split. However, the death of Mao Zedong in brought economic reform to the PRC, which led to the expected Japanese investment in the Chinese economy. This long-term plan, which gave rise to inflated expectations, proved overly ambitious and was drastically cut back the following year as the PRC was forced to reorder its development priorities and scale down its commitments.
However, the signing of the agreement reflected the wish on both sides to improve relations. In April , a dispute over the territoriality of the Senkaku Islands or Diaoyu Islands , a cluster of barren islets north of Taiwan and south of the Ryukyu Islands flared up and threatened to disrupt the developing momentum toward resuming peace treaty talks.
Restraint on both sides led to a resolution. Talks on the peace treaty were resumed in July, and the agreement was reached in August on a compromise version of the anti-hegemony clause. A "Golden Age" marked by the development of complementary interests flourished from the s to the mids. Sino-Japanese relations made considerable progress in the s.
While Japanese enthusiasm for the Chinese market reached highs and lows, broad strategic considerations in the s steadied Tokyo 's policy toward Beijing. In fact, Japan's heavy involvement in the PRC's economic modernization reflected in part a determination to encourage peaceful domestic development in the PRC, to draw the PRC into gradually expanding links with Japan and the West, and to reduce the PRC's interest in returning to its more provocative foreign policies of the past.
They included the increased deployment in East Asia of Soviet armaments, the growth of the Soviet Pacific fleet, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the potential threat it posed to Persian Gulf oil supply routes, and an increased Soviet military presence in Vietnam.
In response, Japan and the PRC adopted notable complementary foreign policies, designed to isolate the Soviet Union and its allies politically and to promote regional stability. Japan provided substantial economic assistance to Thailand to help with resettling Indochinese refugees. In Southwest Asia, both nations backed the condemnation of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan; they refused to recognize the Soviet-backed Kabul regime, and sought through diplomatic and economic means to bolster Pakistan.
Japan encountered a number of episodes of friction with the PRC during the rest of the s. In , a serious political controversy was aroused over a revision of Japanese history textbooks dealing with the war between China and Japan during cf.
Japanese history textbook controversies. In late , Chinese officials complained harshly about Prime Minister Nakasone 's visit to the Yasukuni Shrine , which commemorates Japanese soldiers who had died in service of the Emperor some of whom are war criminals. See also China Internet information centre: the issue of Guanghualiao. The U. Beijing felt isolation and concerning anew about possible revival of Japanese militarism.
By the mid, Beijing had decided coincidentally with its decision to improve relations with the Reagan administration of the United States to solidify ties with Japan. Nakasone and other Japanese leaders tried to relieve above concerns during visits to Beijing and in other talks with Chinese officials. They assured the Chinese of Japan's continued large-scale development and commercial assistance, and to obstruct any Sino-Soviet realignment against Japan.
The two countries also concluded a bilateral investment treaty in after seven years of tough negotiation, where China finally agreed to grant Japanese investments with "national treatment". At the popular level in the PRC, it was not easy to allay concerns. Student-led demonstrations against Japan cf. Anti-Japanese sentiment in China , on the one hand, helped reinforce Chinese officials' warnings to their Japanese counterparts. On the other hand, it was more difficult to change popular opinion in the PRC than it was to change the opinions of the Chinese officials.
The PRC government's harsh crackdown on pro- democracy demonstrations in the spring of caused Japanese policymakers to realize that the new situation in the PRC was extremely delicate and required careful handling to avoid Japanese actions that would push the PRC further away from reforms. Beijing leaders reportedly judged at first that the industrialized countries would relatively quickly resume normal business with the PRC after a brief period of complaint over the Tiananmen Square protests of When that did not happen, the PRC officials made strong suggestions to Japanese officials that they break from most industrialized nations by pursuing normal economic intercourse with the PRC, consistent with Tokyo 's long-term interests in mainland China.
Japanese leaders like West European and U. Bilateral structural change developed during the late s to Japan had been investing in the PRC during the early s, and trade decreased during the late s, but resurged at the millennium. By China's international trade was the sixth-largest in the world; and over the next several years it was expected to be just under Japan, the fourth largest.
In early , Japan and the United States had issued a joint statement which addresses issues concerning the Taiwan Strait. Subsequently, anti-Japanese demonstrations took place simultaneously in the PRC and other Asian countries.
In May , Hu Jintao was the first paramount leader of China in over a decade to be invited to Japan on an official visit, and called for increased "co-operation" between the two countries. They announced that they would align Japan—China relations with the trends of international community and together forge a bright future for the Asia-Pacific region and the world while deepening mutual understanding, building mutual trust, and expanding mutually beneficial cooperation between their nations in an ongoing fashion into the future".
At the reception, he remarked on his "personal conviction regarding Japan-China relations": [24]. Rather, sound competition and active cooperation will constitute a true "mutually beneficial relationship based on common strategic interests.
Although Japanese and Chinese policymakers claimed that "ice-breaking" and "ice-melting" occurred in the bilateral relationship between and , however, none of the fundamental problems related to history and disputed territory had been resolved, and so there was a virtual "ice-berg" under the surface. In , China overtook Japan as the world's second-largest economy. Chinese animosity or even hatred of Japan is reflected in the popular culture. American reporter Howard French states in On September 7, , after a Chinese fishing trawler collided with two Japanese Coast Guard patrol boats near the disputed Senkaku Islands , the captain of the trawler, Zhan Qixiong , was arrested by Japanese sailors, sparking tensions.
In , Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu criticized the annual Japanese defense white paper for calling attention to the "China threat theory". Tensions have risen since September , when the Japanese government purchased three of the islets from a private Japanese owner, leading to widespread anti-Japan demonstrations in China.
Currently in its fourth year, the Australia-Japan Relations Essay Contest showcases some of the best young writers and their work on topics involving Australian. Australia-Japan Relations Essay Contest - topics announced Now in its 6th year, this English-language essay contest for NSW and NT secondary school.
Recommend Documents. The contest was open to all regular undergraduate students. Essay could be written in any official Indian language or. These essays were evaluated by. All India Photography Contest for Children.
