October 8, 2019
Japanese PM Shinzo Abe’s recent speech on pushing bilateral ties to a new stage shows that the relationship between China and Japan is stepping into a new era.
Abe vowed to open up a new era for the Sino-Japan relationship and push bilateral ties to “a new stage” in a recent speech outlining his policy goals. The Beijing News comments:
Abe also said that exchanges between China and Japan should not be limited to leaders of the two countries, but be expanded to all areas including economic and youth exchanges.
Just a few days earlier, Abe sent a congratulatory video on the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China in which he expressed his hopes for stronger bilateral ties.
Both Abe’s policy speech and his congratulatory video are positive signs that relations between the two neighbors have improved.
In fact, bilateral relations have shown positive momentum since last year, and on Aug 10, the Sino-Japan strategic dialogue restarted after seven years. This may help improve relations in the long run by strengthening mutual trust between the two countries and reducing the two countries’ unnecessary strategic attrition.
Admittedly, there are still some obstacles that need to be faced, which require active measures to overcome. At present, both Beijing and Tokyo regard the other side as a “partner”. But although the “unnecessary competition” between China and Japan is gradually declining, the coordination between the two countries still has not realized its potential. To move their relations forward, coordination between the two countries should be strengthened.
As the world’s second and third-largest economies, China and Japan could coordinate and cooperate in many aspects including environmental protection, medical treatment, and education. In particular, in the face of unprecedented international political and economic situations, especially the spread of trade protectionism, coordination between China and Japan is crucial to boost global certainty and confidence.
In the future, China and Japan could focus on jointly safeguarding the global free trade system and postwar international political and economic order, in order to create a new chapter for their ties and jointly maintain international stability.