Visits spark thaw in frozen ties of wary neighbors

China's State Councillor Yang Jiechi (L) shakes hands with Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the start of their talks at Abe's official residence in Tokyo October 14, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

Although still divided over historical issues and territorial disputes, China and Japan are trying to mend their relations.

Japan protested against China's documentary evidence on the Nanjing Massacre being inscribed by UNESCO on its Memory of World registry. It has even threatened to cut or suspend its funding to the UN's cultural arm. China justified the inclusion of documentary materials for "remembering history, cherishing peace, looking into the future and safeguarding human dignity".

Despite this spat, pragmatism appears to be gaining the upper hand in the oft-tense relations, as ties between the two countries thawed in the past week after high-level talks.

Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi visited Tokyo last week for the second round of the Sino-Japan high-level political dialogue with the head of Japan's National Security Council Shotaro Yachi. They had the first round in Beijing in July. Yang, who is the highest-ranking Chinese diplomat to make an official trip to Tokyo for several years, also met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

China and Japan agreed to put the sensitive issues that always poison the relations under control and move the ties forward through dialogue.

President Xi Jinping met with Natsuo Yamaguchi, the head of Komeito, the junior partner in Japan's ruling coalition, in Beijing on Thursday. The Japanese politician handed over a letter from Abe to Xi.

Meanwhile, during the Golden Week holiday in China from Oct 1 to 7, about 400,000 Chinese tourists visited Japan. On top of sightseeing, they went on a massive shopping spree spending an estimated $840 million in Japanese shops during that week. The sharp increase in the number of Chinese visitors has been seen as a major boon to Japan's economy, which has struggled to gain traction following last year's recession.

All these developments seem to indicate that the China-Japan relationship is warming up quickly.

In fact, the relationship has been on the mend since the first meeting between Xi and Abe in Beijing in November.

But there are still Gordian knots to unravel.

Abe sent a masakaki ceremonial tree to the Yasukuni Shrine on Saturday when the Shinto place of worship started its annual autumn ritual.

Japanese leaders' visits to the shrine, which among 2.4 million souls that fell in wars enshrines 14 Japan's Class-A war criminals－found guilty of "crimes against peace"－are unacceptable to China and the Republic of Korea, who see them as glorifying Japan's militarist past and justifying the invasion and brutal occupation of much of Asia and the Pacific before and during World War II.

Because of this Abe has tried to do a difficult balancing act: He did not visit the shrine in person on Saturday in the hope of avoiding derailing the improvement in his country's ties with China and the ROK, but his gift gave a nod to his conservative base.

Yet while trying to thaw ties with Japan's neighbors, Tokyo has moved rapidly to strengthen its security and economic ties with Washington. Japan and 11 other countries have concluded their negotiations over a US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement. And the Abe administration has also formalized the new security-related legislation that allows Japan's Self-Defense Force to play a more active role in regional security alongside the US.

China and Japan need to build on their ongoing rapprochement, while continuing to try and resolve their differences.

The author is China Daily's Tokyo bureau chief. caihong@chinadaily.com.cn