Understanding fluctuations in sino-japanese relations: To politicize or to de-politicize the China issue in the Japanese diet

Pacific Affairs

Volumn 83, Issue 4, 2010, Pages 719-739

  Hagström, Linus ^a   Jerdén, Björn ^a  

^a Swedish Institute of International Affairs   (Sweden)

Author keywords

Discourse analysis; Fluctuations; Insecurity; Japan's china policy; Japanese diet debate; Sino japanese relations

Indexed keywords

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS; NATIONAL POLITICS; POLITICAL DISCOURSE; POLITICAL RELATIONS;

CHINA; JAPAN;

EID: 78651250552     PISSN: 0030851X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.5509/2010834719     Document Type: Article

References (95)

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8. For the notion of a "Sino-Japanese cold war," see, for example, Simon Tisdall, "Sino-Japanese 'Cold War' Stirs New Tensions," The Guardian, 18 January 2005, available from http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/jan/18/japan.china.
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15. That a challenge to the status quo enhances conflict is something that realists of many different persuasions can agree on. See, for example, Kenneth N. Waltz, Theory of International Politics (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1979).
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18. The vast literature of constructivism in international relations theory could be represented, for example, by Peter J. Katzenstein, ed., The Culture of National Security: Norms and Identity in World Politics (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996).
19. In 2009 it declined somewhat, to 58.5 percent. Japan Cabinet Office, Gaikö ni kansuru yoron chösa [Public Opinion Survey on Foreign Policy], 2009.
20. This is for example the underlying idea in the field of presidential decision making, as in Alexander L. George and Juliette L. George, Presidential Personality and Performance (Boulder and New York: Westview Press, 1998).
21. For a critique of rhetoric that places too much emphasis on the role of leaders in the relationship, see Caroline Rose, "Sino-Japanese Relations after Koizumi and the Limits of 'New Era' Diplomacy," in Christopher M. Dent, ed., China, Japan and Regional Leadership in East Asia (Cheltenham and Northampton: Edward Elgar, 2008), pp. 52-64.
22. For numerous examples of Sino-Japanese interdependence, see Linus Hagström, "Sino-Japanese Relations: The Ice That Won't Melt," International Journal, vol. 64, no. 1 (2008/09), pp. 228-229.
23. The underlying idea of economic liberalism is promoted inter alia in Robert O. Keohane and Joseph S. Nye Jr, Power and Interdependence: World Politics in Transition (Boston and Toronto: Little, Brown & Co., 1977).
24. As for the third explanation, there are many historical examples where the politicians known to be most "hawkish"-i.e., those seen as least likely to contribute to détente in a particular strained relationship-have in fact set the stage for better relations. Apart from Abe's trip to China in 2006, famous examples include President Richard Nixon's normalization of diplomatic relations with China in 1972, President Ronald Reagan's contribution to the easing of tensions with the Soviet Union in the mid-1980s and Ariel Sharon's unilateral evacuation of the Gaza Strip in 2005. As for the fourthexplanation, many scholars have criticized economic liberalism for disregarding the fact that the First World War followed a period of unprecedented economic interdependence in the history of Europe. The implication is that a cooperative relationship does not necessarily follow from a state of interdependence. See, for example, John Mearsheimer, "Back to the Future: Instability in Europe after the Cold War," International Security, vol. 15, no. 1 (1990), p. 46.
25. Calder, "China and Japan's Simmering Rivalry," p. 139.
26. Ole Wæver, "Identity, Communities and Foreign Policy: Discourse Analysis as Foreign Policy Theory," in Lene Hansen and Ole Wæver, eds, European Integration and National Identity: The Challenge of the Nordic States (London: Routledge, 1999) pp. 20-49.
27. A Chinese "securitization move" would present Japan as an existential threat, which requires "emergency measures" and justifies "actions outside the normal bounds of political procedure." See Barry Buzan, Ole Wæver and Jaap de Wilde, Security: A New Framework for Analysis (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1998), pp. 23-24.
28. Various contributions to Frank Dikötter, ed., The Construction of Racial Identities in China and Japan (London: Hurst & Co., 1997); Oguma Eiji, "The Postwar Intellectuals' View of 'Asia'," in Sven Saaler and J. Victor Koschmann, eds., Pan-Asianism in Modern Japanese History: Colonialism, Regionalism and Borders (Oxon and New York: Routledge, 2007), pp. 200-212.
29. Rumi Sakamoto, "'Will You Go toWar? Or Will You Stop Being Japanese': Nationalism and History in Kobayashi Yoshinori's Sensoron," in Michael Heazle and Nick Knight, eds., China-Japan Relations in the Twenty-First Century: Creating a Future Past (Cheltenham and Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar, 2007), p. 84.
30. Kevin M. Doak, "Narrating China, Ordering East Asia: The Discourse on Nation and Ethnicity in Imperial Japan," Journal of the Washington Institute of China Studies, vol. 3, no. 1 (2008), pp. 1-24.
31. Wæver, "Identity," p. 42.
32. Still, Johnston argues that radical views on Japan's neighbours "find their way into political speeches, right-wing mainstream media, or in the proclamations of any number of right-wing NGOs or NPOs who agitate for politicians to adopt a broad right-wing agenda." Eric Johnston, "Japan Under Siege: Japanese Media Perceptions of China and the Two Koreas Six Decades after World War II," in Heazle and Knight, eds, China-Japan Relations in the Twenty-First Century, p. 114.
33. Wæver, "Identity," p. 29.
34. Iver B. Neumann, Mening Materialitet Makt [Meaning, Materiality, Power] (Lund:
35. Studentlitteratur, 2003), p. 34.
36. Wæver, "Identity," p. 24.
37. Neumann, Mening, p. 57.
38. Neumann, Mening, pp. 57-59.
39. Wæver, "Identity," p. 26.
40. All deliberations in the Diet can be searched and downloaded at "Kokkai kaijiroku kensaku shisutemu" [A search system for Diet protocols], available from http://kokkai.ndl.go.jp/.
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45. Wæver, "Identity," p. 32; cf. Neumann, Mening, pp. 36, 59.
46. This is known as the "gyöza incident." In the spring of 2010 a Chinese man was detained for having intentionally poisoned the dumplings with the pesticide methamidophos.
47. Diet Session 169, Foreign Affairs Committee meeting 3 (henceforth, DS169, FAC3).
48. DS169, FAC4.
49. DS169, FAC4.
50. DS169, FAC3.
51. DS169, FAC3.
52. DS169, FAC 5.
53. DS162, FAC1.
54. DS169, FAC3.
55. DS169, FAC2.
56. DS169, FAC2.
57. DS162, FAC4.
58. Steven Lee Myers and Katrin Bennhold, "Europe and U.S. Press China over Tibet," New York Times, 27 March 2008, available from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/27/world/europe/27europe.html.
59. DS169, FAC2.
60. DS169, FAC2.
61. DS169, FAC2.
62. DS169, FAC2.
63. DS169, FAC3.
64. DS169, FAC3.
65. DS169, FAC3.
66. DS169, FAC5.
67. DS169, FAC5.
68. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, "Statement by the Press Secretary/Director-General for Press and Public Relations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on the Situation in Tibet," 5 May 2008, available from http://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/announce/2008/5/1179860_1010.html.
69. "Fukuda, Hu Put Focus on Future: Japan, China Bypass History Issues, Hint at Gas-Field Deal in Crucial Summit," Japan Times Online, 8 May 2008, available from http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20080508a1.html.
70. "Sarkozy Hints at Boycott of Olympics' Opening," New York Times, 26 March 2008, available from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/26/world/europe/26france.html.
71. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, "Press Release: Chinese Leader on the Affairs of the Tibet Autonomous Region and the Relations across the Taiwan Straits," 18 April 2008, available from http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/wjb/zwjg/zwbd/t426681.htm.
72. DS169, FAC2.
73. DS169, FAC3.
74. DS169, FAC2.
75. "Fukuda Dismisses Calls for Boycott of Beijing Olympic Ceremony," Kyodo News, 3 April 2008, available from http://www.japantoday.com/category/politics/view/fukuda-dismisses-calls-for-boycottof-beijing-olympic-ceremony.
76. "Japanese PM to Attend Opening Ceremony of Beijing Olympics," Xinhuanet, 6 July 2008, available from http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-07/06/content_8499067.htm.
77. DS146, FAC1.
78. DS147, FAC2.
79. DS147, FAC5.
80. DS162, FAC1.
81. DS162, FAC1.
82. DS162, FAC1.
83. DS162, FAC5.
84. DS162, FAC3.
85. DS169, FAC3.
86. DS162, FAC1.
87. DS162, FAC1.
88. This argument is clearly different from saying that Japanese foreign policy has turned to the right-an idea which seems to underlie the last decade's proliferation of two catchwords in the study of Japanese foreign and security policy: normalization and remilitarization. An arguably more nuanced account of Japan's alleged turn to right is provided in Matthew Penney and Bryce Wakefield, "Right Angles: Examining Accounts of Japanese Neo-nationalism," Pacific Affairs, vol. 81, no. 4 (2008/09), pp. 537-555.
89. Samuels, "Securing Japan," p. 145.
90. The moderate representation's relative dominance in Japan's China discourse is also demonstrated by the fact that white papers issued annually by the ministries of foreign affairs and defence have merely depicted China as "in need of further attention" over the past decade, despite the country's very rapid military modernization. At the same time, these official Japanese sources have kept framing North Korea as a "threat" or as a security concern of sorts, despite the outdated condition of its military equipment. See Linus Hagström and Christian Turesson.
91. See, for example, the exchanges between Foreign Minister Machimura Nobutaka (LDP) and Mashiko Teruhiko (DPJ) in DS162, FAC1 and DS162, FAC4.
92. Johnston, "Japan Under Siege," p. 112.
93. Neumann, Mening, p. 48, emphasis added.
94. Wæver, "Identity," p. 32.
95. Shogo Suzuki, "Can Apology Serve as a Security Policy? Responsible Scholarship and Breaking the Chains of Negative History in Sino-Japanese Relations," Korean Journal of Defense Analysis, vol. 20, no. 4 (2008), p. 327.