【明報專訊】Relations between China and Japan have always been complicated. The two countries established diplomatic relations in 1972, and were on friendly terms when Hu Yaobang (胡耀邦) visited Japan in his capacity as General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (中共總書記) in 1983 today. Recently, however, relations between them have been at a low ebb owing to their differences over a number of issues.

Hu's Japan visit

Hu Yaobang arrived in Japan on an official visit on 23 November 1983. He met with Yasuhiro Nakasone (中曾根康弘), then Japanese Prime Minister. The two countries agreed that China-Japan relations should be founded on four principles: (1) peace and friendliness (和平友好), (2) fairness and mutual interests (平等互利), (3) mutual trust (相互信賴), and (4) long-term stability (長期穩定). They also agreed that a China-Japan Friendship Committee for the 21st Century (中日友好21世紀委員會) be set up.

◆Issues threatening China-Japan relations

1. Japanese leaders' attitudes towards WWII

Over the years, Japanese leaders have displayed different kinds of attitudes towards the atrocities (暴行) the Japanese army committed in World War II. Most of them have expressed regret for Chinese people's pain and suffering. Few, however, have had the courage to make a full apology.

An exception is Tomiichi Murayama (村山富市), who was Japanese Prime Minister from June 1994 to January 1996. In a speech he delivered on the 50th anniversary of the war's end, he apologised for the damage and suffering Japan had caused its Asian neighbours including China.

However, incumbent Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo (安倍晉三) has angered the Chinese government by visiting Yasukuni Shrine (靖國神社), where several war criminals are honoured.

2. Sovereignty disputes over the Diaoyu Islands

The Diaoyu Islands (釣魚島), which the Japanese call the Senkaku Islands (尖閣諸島), are in the East China Sea to the east of the Chinese mainland, northeast of Taiwan and west of Okinawa Island (沖繩島).

The Chinese government claims that it was a diplomat (外交官) of the Ming Dynasty that first discovered the islands. Nevertheless, in 1884, a Japanese businessman set foot on the islands and started growing crops there. Annexed by the Japanese in the wake of the First Sino-Japanese War (中日甲午戰爭), the Diaoyus were kept in the United States' custody (監管) after WWII, together with the Ryukyu Islands (琉球群島). They were transferred to the Japanese government in 1972.

The Beijing government insists that the islands have always been Chinese territory. The Japanese government's "nationalisation" (國有化) of them in recent years has strained China-Japan relations.

3. Japan's amendments of its pacifist constitution

Japan's pacifist constitution (和平憲法) was drafted at the behest of the US government after WWII. Its article 9 states, "Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes." However, the Abe administration has made various attempts to amend the constitution. In July 2015, the Japanese House of Representatives (眾議院), controlled by Abe's coalition government, adopted two security bills intended to undermine the pacifist constitution. In September, the controversial bills went through the House of Councillors of Japan's Diet. The country's armed services may under those bills take part in overseas combat in limited circumstances.