How do you see each other in Japan and China?"

How do you see each other in Japan and China?"

A China-Japan joint survey found that Chinese people's awareness of Japan has changed with the improvement of Japan-China relations. Kamikoda commentator.

Mr. Kamikoda, what is this survey like?

A This is conducted annually by the Japanese private organization, "Nonbun NPO," and the "China International Publishing Group," which is a publishing and issuing agency for foreign countries in China.

This time, I'm asking 1000 people from all over Japan and 1548 people from 10 major cities in China. In Japan, I gave a questionnaire and collected it later. In China, it was an interview method.

 As a result, when I first asked the Chinese about their impressions of Japan, the percentage of those who "have a good impression or a good impression" was 42.2% compared to 31.5% last year. increased. On the other hand, the proportion of people who "feel bad or rather bad" to Japan has dropped significantly from 66.8% last year to 56.1%.

Q Both are big improvements with 10 points or more.

A. The background is that the number of people visiting from China to Japan is increasing year by year, and feelings toward Japan can be improved by interacting with Japanese people. Japan-China political relations have improved by the time the two leaders come and go. Is Li Keqiang Prime Minister in May this year, to as China's leaders came to Japan for the first time in seven years, further to this month, now is scheduled to hold talks with Xi Jinping Jintao visited the Prime Minister Abe is China.

Last month, when the top of Japan's business circles, including the chairman of the Nippon Keidanren, visited Beijing and met with Prime Minister Lee, I interviewed him, but there were occasions when I felt that the distance between Japan and China had shortened. ..

This China delegation is held every year by an organization called the Japan-China Economic Association, which promotes economic exchange between Japan and China, and the Japanese side holds deregulation every year at this meeting to make it easier for Japanese companies to do business in China. We are handing out a booklet that summarizes the requests of.

The companies that are expanding into the country actually put together more detailed requests in a thick booklet. I think the department in charge is making an effort." It had been over there until last year, but this year he said, "I still can not feel relieved" and ordered the senior government officials there to "tell each department to solve the problem". is.

The top of the business world who witnessed this situation said that he could read a strong message that he wanted to strengthen relations with Japan.

Since Chinese society has more places to act than Japanese people while paying attention to what the older people think, if you show the leadership of the central party of the party to be friendly with Japan, the executives of local governments will also work with Japanese companies. There is a place where private companies can engage in business with Japan with peace of mind by actively engaging in the exchange. As the political relationship between Japan and China improves in this way, I think the attitude towards the Japanese people has also changed.

 Another reason behind the change in Chinese people's awareness of Japan is the changing international situation.

Q What is it?

A Trade friction with the United States.

The Trump administration has issued large-scale sanctions that impose high tariffs on imported goods from China, saying that China has infringed on American intellectual property rights. The trade war has begun with the Chinese side also taking countermeasures. In addition, recently, Vice President Pence severely criticized China, saying that "China is eating the United States." On the other hand, China's foreign minister Wang Yi responded on it 

In the meantime, in this survey, when I asked which country had the most important relationship with China, the percentage of people who answered the US dropped from 28.4% to 23.3%. The percentage of people who answered "Japan" has increased from 12% to 18.2%.

Q. The relationship with Japan seems to be getting closer, but how is the Japanese attitude toward China changing?

A. “I have a good or rather good impression” for China is increasing from 11.5% to 13.1%, but not so much. “I have a bad or rather bad impression” has decreased from 88.3% to 86.3%, but it has not decreased so much, and it is said that it is still close to 90%.

Q Why?

A: In this survey, we hear multiple answers every year as  to the reasons for the bad impression, but the most common answer is "because we frequently invade Japanese waters and airspace around the Senkaku Islands in Okinawa". Then, the reasons were raised, "Because China behaves differently from international rules," and "because it criticizes Japan for historical issues." Among these, the answer that "China behaves differently from international rules"

China had previously shown that it would not accept the ruling of the arbitral tribunal, which did not approve of China's claim, as "just like waste paper" over South China Sea sovereignty, but this year trade friction with the United States Against this backdrop, it seems that various actions that violate the spirit of free trade, such as “not protecting intellectual property rights”, were highlighted again.

Thus, the current situation is that while the Chinese side's sentiment towards Japan has improved, the Japanese side's sentiment towards China has not improved. 

Q. What challenges will you face in improving the relationship between the two countries in the future, including improving the feelings of the Japanese towards China?

A. In this survey, when we asked what is needed to improve Japan-China relations, many such answers came up.

In Japan, there are (1) improving trust among governments, (2) efforts to resolve “territorial issues” related to the Senkaku Islands, (3) reconciliation of historical recognition issues, and (4) active exchange between leaders. The Chinese side also has a different ranking, but the same four items came to the top.

Of these, the resolution of conflicts over territory and reconciliation of historical issues are not easy to understand, but when it comes to what each other can do first, the exchange of leaders will become more active, and I think it is important to work on improving the trust of the government. By doing so, it may be necessary for us to constantly maintain a pipe of communication, insist on each other's positions, deepen discussions, and enhance trust. Sino-Japanese relations have been getting better and worse over a long history, but I hope that through long-term efforts, we will build a friendly relationship that will never return.