Tokyo knows what to do to repair relations with Beijing

When Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met Takeshi Iwaya, president of the Japanese Association for the Promotion of International Trade, in Beijing on Monday, he made a pertinent observation. Next year will mark the 55th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan, but bilateral ties are again in a difficult situation and need to be "normalized" once more.

This is a richly nuanced diplomatic expression. In fact, Sino-Japanese relations have been stuck in an impasse ever since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made her erroneous and dangerous remarks in November last year that a "contingency" in the Taiwan Strait could represent a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan.

Despite this, China has not slammed the door on dialogue, particularly with the Japanese people and organizations that are committed to the cause of China-Japan friendship, even if such conversations are hard to come by.

The Taiwan question is China's internal affair that brooks no external interference. To repair the relationship, the Takaichi government must take the right attitude toward history and adopt an objective and rational understanding of China. Tokyo knows what to do to mend ties. Japan's urgent task, as Wang said, is to correct Takaichi's irresponsible remarks on China's Taiwan region.

The diplomatic door remains open, but Tokyo cannot expect time to dilute the impact of Takaichi's provocative words and actions.

The contrast with Yohei Kono, the association's former president, who passed away in June at 89, is telling. Kono's willingness to face history had earned him respect in China and neighboring countries. Wang acknowledged him as a statesman of conscience who confronted Japan's dark past and reflected on the crimes of militarist aggression. This is a rebuke to those in Tokyo who appear to regard historical memory as an inconvenience rather than a responsibility.

The timing is awkward for Takaichi. This year marks the 80th anniversary of the opening of the Tokyo Trials. At the United Nations General Assembly last week, she openly called for the removal of the UN Charter's "enemy state" references.

China's UN envoy Sun Lei rightly pointed out that Japan's military expansion and attempts to revise its pacifist Constitution made the "enemy state" references acutely relevant to safeguarding the postwar order.

On Sept 24, China's consul-general in Osaka, Xue Jian, offered another pointed observation: Tokyo's hostile perceptions of China, he argued, were rooted in long-standing prejudice and a failure to objectively observe China. It is absurd for the Takaichi government to persist in viewing China through a prism of strategic hostility while ignoring Japan's economic and cultural ties with China.

Iwaya, for his part, acknowledged that relations were worrying and pledged to uphold Kono's legacy and the four political documents underpinning bilateral ties. He also insisted that Japanese politicians must keep the country on the path of peaceful development.

That is a message the Takaichi government would do well to consider. Does it really understand the consequences of turning China's Taiwan region into a flash point? Does it genuinely want to provoke war? Does Tokyo really think that antagonizing China serves Japan's interests?

Fundamentally, Japan needs to develop an objective and rational perception of China.

Tuesday marked the 54th anniversary of the issuance of the China-Japan Joint Communique. The joint communique, together with the other three political documents agreed between the two sides, laid the political foundation for China-Japan relations and established political norms for properly handling major issues of principle, including history and the Taiwan question. These documents must not be distorted, rolled back or undermined.

As Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun stressed, history has repeatedly shown that only by genuinely upholding the spirit of the four political documents between China and Japan can the bilateral relationship avoid veering off course or derailing.