Japan walks the extra mile

On Sunday President Xi Jinping met with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan in an action that reflects the rapid geopolitical churning in Asia Whether or not this marks a deacutetente in the troubled ChinaJapan relationship remains to be determined But the fourpoint agreement that was worked out by State Councillor Yang Jichei and Japanese National Security Adviser Shotaro Yachi to enable the meeting indicates that Tokyo has walked the extra mile to assuage the ChineseJapanrsquos Prime Minister Shinzo Abe L with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the AsiaPacific Economic Cooperation APEC Summit banquet at the Beijing National Aquatics Center on November 10 PicGetty ImagesIt has accepted the need for ldquofacing history squarely and looking forward to the futurerdquomdash shorthand for its horrific wartime role in China Further it has acknowledged that the two parties ldquohad different viewsrdquo about the issue of the SenkakuDiayou islands Japan may not quite have accepted that there is a dispute over the status of the islands but it has come close to itA ChineseJapanese deacutetente would be a stunning coup for the Chinese By this action they would neutralise their most potent East Asian adversary having already established an entente with Russia to the north Besides its enormous economic and technological power Japanrsquos location is also a very important element in East Asian politicsRecall that the US carrier groups that have been deployed in the Taiwan Straits area in 1996 came from Yousuoka not Hawaii or elsewhere Japan served as the key platform for the prosecution of the US war in Korea in 1950Many observers believe that Beijingrsquos greater assertiveness since 2010 was related to the succession politics in ChinaBut inner party tensions compelled Xi Jinping to not only press on in the South China Sea and the East China Sea but to actually increase the heat Prime Minister Abersquos nationalistic posture and his decision to visit the Yasukuni Shrine last year led to the Chinese declaration of an ADIZ covering the SenkakuDiayou islands which was followed by more aggressive posturing that led some observers to believe that a ChinaJapan military clash was in the offingBut what this succeeded in doing is to strengthen the USJapan ties and encourage Tokyo to move away from its pacifist moorings towards a more active role in its security So earlier this year in July the Japanese Cabinet took the decision to authorise the use of force by the Japanese military for selfdefence and included the concept of collective selfdefence involving any attack on the forces of ldquoa foreign country that is in a close relationship with Japanrdquo read the US In other words instead of remaining a passive element in the alliance Japan took a step towards becoming a more equal member of the allianceThe relations between China and Japan are far more dense than say the relations between India and Japan or India and China This is not merely a result of geography and history but of globalisationTrade between the two countries is around 350 billion and rose last year for the first time since 2012 when political tensions negatively affected itIf China is a destination of Japanese exporters battling a sluggish economy back home Japan is the source of many components and subassemblies that make the Chinese export miracle what it is China imports more from Japan than any other country mainly hightech components and capital equipment for its manufacturing sector Japanrsquos expertise in areas like energy efficiency is something that China covets because that will enable it to become a more efficient producer of goods But Japan is no match for Chinese military power and its World War II history has created a deeply pacific mindset within the country something that Abe cannot ignoreRecently China too began to feel the effects of an economic slowdown While the Chinese leadership has kept a brave face and indicated their decision to press on they have also realised that a further deepening of the economic problems arising out of their dustup with Japan could have negative consequences for internal stability Equally important they realised that their actions were pushing Japan to take a more assertive military and political postureOne manifestation of this was the growing ties with countries like India and Vietnam as well as a strengthening of relations with the United StatesAwareness of these factors have helped both sides to pull back from the brink This year Abe did not visit the Yasukuni Shrine on August 15 the anniversary of Japanrsquos surrender in World War II Earlier in May the two countries held their first ministerlevel talks on the sidelines of a session of the APEC forum in Quingdao and later the two foreign ministers met in Myanmar Subsequently in the run up to the APEC summit the officials of the two sides met and drew up the fourpoint agreement that was arrived at last Friday and which enabled the XiAbe meeting of SundayThe easing of ChinaJapan tensions is a positive development but it is unlikely to lead to an entente between the two countriesChinese economic and political power remains on the ascendant while that of Japan is refusing to budge from its relatively stagnant position Addressing a group of CEOs on the sidelines of the APEC meeting in Beijing not only did Xi pledge 40 billion to develop connectivity through the ldquoSilk Roadrdquo initiative but held out the promise of a massive outbound investment surge by China in excess of 125 trillion over the next 10 years He also said that China would import more than 10 trillion in goods and send more than 500 million tourists abroad in the next five yearsThese are huge numbers and their consequences will not just be economic but politicalThe writer is a Distinguished Fellow Observer Research Foundation New Delhi