Global Perspective: Japan and China Renew Mutually Beneficial Strategic Relations

By Ryosei Kokubun, President of the Asian Affairs Research Council

“A mutually beneficial relationship based on common strategic interests” is a phrase that has often been used in recent relations between Japan and China. This term carries a complex history and it is important to understand it to grasp the current situation and challenges in bilateral relations.

The term was first used in 2006 between then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and current Chinese President Hu Jintao. Its content was later clarified in the Japan-China joint statement exchanged between future Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and Hu during the Chinese leader's state visit to Japan in 2008.

The 2008 declaration is one of four important political documents in China-Japan relations, along with the 1972 Joint Communiqué, the 1978 Peace and Friendship Treaty and the 1998 Joint Declaration.

When President Xi Jinping's visit to Japan was being considered before the coronavirus pandemic, it was rumored that a fifth policy document was in the works with the advent of the Xi era. However, this never materialized amid deteriorating relations between Tokyo and Beijing.

Perhaps for this reason, Xi has long tended to avoid using the phrase “mutually beneficial relationship based on common strategic interests.” The phrase was, however, recently used again during a summit between the president and former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in November 2023, and was also used during Xi's meeting with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba this year.

The two countries apparently first agreed on the use of the term during the inauguration of the first Abe government, during a comprehensive and strategic political dialogue between Deputy Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo in 2006. This mandate would have been created with two senior Japanese Foreign Ministry officials playing major roles: Kenichiro Sasae, director of the Bureau of Asian Affairs and Oceania, and Takeo Akiba, director of the China division.

Various questions were raised during the bilateral negotiation process regarding the choice of term to describe relations between Japan and China. At first, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs feared that the word “strategic” (senryaku = zhanlue)” would provoke the United States. Furthermore, “mutually beneficial (gokei=huhui)” was chosen because the Chinese word for “win-win (shuangying)” has no direct Japanese equivalent.

At the time, I was a member of the newly formed Japan-China Friendship Committee for the 21st Century and secretary-general of the Japanese side. Bilateral relations were going through considerable turbulence triggered by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's official visit to the Yasukuni Shrine, seen by some as a symbol of pre-war Japanese militarism. In these circumstances, the committee was established in 2003 as a dialogue mechanism to make recommendations from the private sector to the two governments.

Transition of “friendship”

Before the creation of this committee, I asked if the word “friendship” (yuko=youhao)” could be deleted to expand the importance of Japan-China relations, but the Chinese side did not agree and left it as is. In the commission, many opinions were expressed According to which the current situation between the two countries, which was only a question of historically thorny issues, could be viewed in a more positive, long-term and broader way. From the beginning of the panel, the need for a. strategic perspective has been recognized.

Abe, who succeeded Koizumi in 2006, chose China and South Korea rather than the United States as his first destinations for his foreign visits. In China, he declared the establishment of “mutually beneficial relations based on common strategic interests” with President Hu.

The joint statement said: “The Japanese side emphasized that Japan, more than 60 years after the war, has always followed the path of a peaceful country and will continue to follow this path, and the Chinese side positively appreciated.” This announcement was an attempt to break away from historical issues rooted in Japan's invasion of China.

The communiqué even mentions the East China Sea issue: “The two sides reaffirmed that in order to make the East China Sea a 'sea of ​​peace, cooperation and friendship,' each should firmly maintain dialogue and consultation. and confirmed that they would adhere to the general direction of common development and seek a solution acceptable to both sides. Moreover, this expression on the East China Sea was also mentioned by the 21st Century Committee.

The 2008 declaration went further than the 2006 document and described the contents of the previous document in more detail. He believed that Japan-China relations should not be just bilateral, but “strategic” and broadly positioned in the world, that Japan has contributed to global peace and stability as a peaceful nation after the Second World War, and that China agreed to “attach importance” to Japan's position in the United Nations.

Flexible stance of the Hu era

Furthermore, the document even states that the two parties “will engage in close cooperation to develop a better understanding and pursuit of fundamental and universal values” (fuhenteki-kachi=pushijiazhi) which are commonly accepted by the international community. » At that time, there was a debate in China about “universal values”. Later, “universal values” were replaced by “Chinese values”, but this sentence in the joint declaration shows that at this point, Hu was committed to “universal values” which respect human rights and democracy.

During the Hu period, there were several anti-Japanese protests over history and territory. Protests in China usually have some form of organization behind them. At the time, I argued that this was an attempt by Jiang Zemin's faction to destabilize Hu's regime under the guise of an anti-Japanese movement, but this view was not widely shared. . But today such an interpretation is rather common.

As for the issue of Taiwan, which China considers a renegade province, the 2008 joint declaration contains only a short sentence that does not even mention “one China.” It reads: “Regarding the Taiwan issue, the Japanese side once again expressed its adherence to the position expressed in the joint communiqué of the Government of Japan and the Government of the People's Republic of China. » Considering today's tense international situation, China's flexibility at the time is astonishing.

These documents should not be seen solely as the achievements of Japanese diplomacy. If China had never entertained the idea of ​​moving toward international cooperation, the joint declaration would not have been so flexible. It can be said that the document contained the position of President Hu, who in 2022 had to leave the venue of the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of China on the closing day as if he was being chased away.

Xi is not just “anti-Japanese”

Naturally, Xi Jinping had to read these sentences carefully. He has sometimes used the phrase “mutually beneficial relationship based on common strategic interests” and, at other times, avoided it. Now he has started using the phrase again. In Japan, there is a strong tendency to view Xi's overly authoritarian posture as a constant and to view him as an anti-Japanese activist who stands firm on issues involving history and sovereignty, but his thinking also fluctuates depending on the circumstances. circumstances.

Xi frequently interacted with local politicians and businessmen in Japan while working on the campaign trail, and his wife Peng Liyuan reportedly visited Japan frequently. It is also said that his only daughter was enrolled in a university in Japan before studying in the United States. Xi is not just “anti-Japanese.”

I have always been critical of Xi's authoritarian rule, but I also note that his political position seems quite difficult given the dire economic situation, the arrival of the Trump administration and a chaotic military personnel reshuffle. In this sense, we must be firmly determined that the return to a strategic and mutually beneficial relationship with Japan is not temporary.

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Ryosei Kokubun received his Ph.D. in Law from Keio University. He served as dean of the Faculty of Law and Politics and director of the Institute of East Asian Studies at Keio, and served as president of the National Defense Academy of Japan from 2012 to 2021. He is president of the Japan Society for Defense Studies and former president of the Japan International Relations Association (2006-2008) and the Japan Association of Asian Studies (2005-2007). He was appointed president of the Asian Affairs Research Council in May 2024.