* Prepared for presentation at the International Studies Association Annual Convention, San Francisco, California, March 28, 2008.

[1] David Crocker, “Reckoning with Past Wrongs: A Normative Framework,” Ethics and International Affairs, vol. 13 (1999), pp. 43-64.

[2] On transforming the relationship between disputing parties, see Louis Kriesberg, Constructive Conflicts: From Escalation to Resolution, 2d ed. (Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003).

[3] A recent example occurred in 2007 when Prime Minister Abe reopened the issue of the comfort women. Instead of simply indicating that he had no intention to change the Japanese statement of 1993, issued in the name of the chief cabinet secretary, that blamed the army for the forcible seizure of women in occupied lands to serve as sex slaves, Abe, while expressing sympathy for the women, said that in his opinion the army's role was unproven. He thus found himself in the same bed with the former education minister, Nakayama Nariaki, who boasted about how he and other LDP members had kept mention of the comfort women and the army's role in their recruitment out of school texts. These unfortunate words lend legitimacy to the Chinese view, expressed by one prominent Chinese scholar, that historical issues (in this case, the Yasukuni Shrine) have “become a main or perhaps even the only obstacle to Sino-Japanese engagement and cooperation at the moment, like a fish bone stuck in the throat. Only if this problem is appropriately resolved will China further discuss potential cooperation programs with Japan and specify its policy on Japan's role in international and regional security.” Yang Bojiang, “Redefining Sino-Japanese Relations After Koizumi,” Washington Quarterly, vol. 29, No. 4 (Autumn, 2006), p. 131.

[4] Of course there are exceptions. See, e.g., Kent E. Calder, “China and Japan's Simmering Rivalry,” Foreign Affairs, vol. 85, No. 2 (March-April, 2006), pp. 129-39.

[5] On the political uses of Japan's ODA, see Tsukasa Takamine, “A New Dynamism in Sino-Japanese Security Relations: Japan's Strategic Use of Foreign Aid,” The Pacific Review, vol. 18, no. 4 (December, 2005), pp. 439-61.

[6] Kriesberg, Constructive Conflicts, p. 329.

[7] See Reinhard Drifte, “Engagement Japanese Style,” Chinese-Japanese Relations in the Twenty-first Century: Complementarity and conflict. (Routledge: New York, 2002), p. 53. See also Murata Koji, “Domestic Sources of Japanese Policy towards China,” in Lam Peng Er, ed., Japan's Relations with China: Facing a Rising Power (Routledge: London, 2006), p. 39.

[8] See Tok Sow Keat, “Neither Friends Nor Foes: China's Dilemmas in Managing Its Japan Policy,” China: An International Journal, vol. 3, No. 2 (September, 2005), pp. 297-98.

[9] Reuters, “China Defense Minister Visits Japan, Ties on Mend,” August 29, 2007; NAPSNet, same date.

[10] The U.S. commander in the maneuvers denied they were directed at China (Reuters, “Bay of Bengal War Games Not Aimed at China: U.S.,” August 23, 2007, at NAPSNet, same date); but it is highly unlikely that Chinese leaders saw it that way. The new Japan-Australia declaration on defense, signed in March 2007, “will mean”—in the words of then-Prime Minister John Howard—”that our security relationship with Japan will be closer than with any other country with the exception of the United States,” even though the agreement reportedly only concerns cooperation on terrorism and disaster relief. (Japan Times, March 11, 2007.) This declaration should be seen in the context of Japan's “values diplomacy,” the brainchild of Foreign Minister Aso Taro in a speech in late 2006 on a democratic alliance of Japan with other states—though not South Korea, interestingly. When Abe visited India the following August, he referred to an “expanded Asia”—Japan, the United States, Australia, and India—marked by shared democratic values and strategic interests. “Abe: Japan, India United by Values,” Asahi Shimbun, August 23, 2007.

[11] See also Wang Jisi, “China's Search for Stability with America,” Foreign Affairs, vol. 84, No. 5 (September-October, 2005), p. 44.

[12] Yang Bojiang, “Redefining Sino-Japanese Relations,” p. 133.

[13] See Bates Gill and Martin Kleiber, “China's Space Odyssey,” Foreign Affairs, vol. 86, No. 3 (May-June, 2007), pp. 2-6. The authors contend that the test, in which a ballistic missile shot down a weather satellite, was undertaken by the Chinese military without consulting the ministry of foreign affairs.

[14] Sueo Sudo, “It Takes Two to Tango: The Conflict as Japan Sees It,” in James C. Hsiung, ed., China and Japan At Odds: Deciphering the Perpetual Conflict for the Future (New York: Palgrave, 2007), pp. 43-57. ASEAN+3 refers to the ten ASEAN states plus Japan, China, and South Korea, with “the three” now meeting regularly.

[15] This was one element of the Joint Statement of Principles of the Six Party Talks in September 2005, and it has been repeated in subsequent meetings of the six parties. Text in Northeast Asia Peace and Security Network (NAPSNet) Special Report, September 20, 2005, online from nautilus.org.

[16] I am indebted for this point to Prof. Peter Van Ness of the Australian National University.

[17] “Japan-China Joint Press Statement,” October 8, 2006.

[18] Chinese text in Renmin gang (People.com), April 13, 2007.

[19] Fukuda cited three areas: promoting mutual benefit (such as energy), mutual understanding (such as security), and international society (such as terrorism and North Korea). See Kazuyo Kato, “China-Japan Rapprochement in Perspective,” China Brief, vol. 8, No. 1 (January 4, 2008).

[20] Yomiuri Shimbun, “Japan, China Reach Deal on Anti-Global Warming Project,” November 30, 2007, in NAPSNet, same date.

[21] New York Times, November 28, 2007, p. A16.

[22] Statement of Vice-premier Zeng Peiyan, as reported in Renmin gang (People.com), December 1, 2007.

[23] See Raymond Cohen, Negotiating Across Cultures: International Communication in an Interdependent World (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Institute of Peace, 1997).

[24] See Harold Saunders, A Public Peace Process: Sustained Dialogue to Transform Racial and Ethnic Conflicts (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2001), and Herbert C. Kelman, “The Problem-Solving Workshop in Conflict Resolution,” in Richard L. Merritt, ed., Communication in International Politics (Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 1972).

[25] A version of this section was originally presented in a paper, “Reconciling China and Japan: A Menu of Alternatives,” for the Conference on the Need for Conflict Prevention and Conflict Management in Sino-Japanese Relations,” Tokyo, March 8-9, 2007, sponsored by Uppsala University and Keio University. The paper owes much to a workshop on China-Japan reconciliation that was held at the Australian National University in August 2006, the results of which I summarized in “Options for Reconciling China and Japan,” Asian Perspective, vol. 31, No. 1 (2007), pp. 169-75.

[26] This focus on interests draws inspiration from Roger Fisher, Elizabeth Kopelman, and Andrea Kupfer Schneider, Beyond Machiavelli: Tools for Coping with Conflict (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1994).

[27] See Shi Yinhong, “Sino-Japanese Rapprochement as a ‘Diplomatic Revolution.’” Shi urges (p. 4) that “the Chinese government, represented by our top leader, should frequently use appropriately strong language to express gratitude to Japan for its large scale economic assistance to China since the beginning of our ‘Reform and Opening' in the late 1970s.”

[28] See Chu-yuan Cheng, “Sino-Japanese Economic Relations: Interdependence and Conflict,” in James C. Hsiung, ed., China and Japan At Odds: Deciphering the Perpetual Conflict (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007), table 5.2, p. 84.

[29] Ralph Jennings, “Japanese Aid Message Lost on Deaf Chinese Ears,” Japan Times, January 11, 2005; China Daily (Beijing), December 14, 2004; “Japan's Aid to China is Not Unilateral Benefaction: FM Spokeswoman,” People's Daily Online (Beijing), December 2, 2004. Moreover, PRC repayments of Japanese loans have regularly surpassed loan amounts since 2003.

[30] Ever since 2001, when Japan began to cut back ODA to China, most aid has gone into environmental programs. One reason may have been political: to answer critics in Japan who variously argued that China no longer needed foreign aid and was diverting ODA to military programs. See Glen Hook et al., Japan's International Relations: Politics, Economics and Security, 2d ed. (London: Routledge, 2005), p. 201.

[31] Press release of the prime minister's office, “Joint Declaration by the Republic of India and the People's Republic of China,” November 21, 2006.

[32] For specific proposals to resolve the East China Sea dispute, see Mark J. Valencia, “The East China Sea Dispute: Context, Claims, Issues, and Possible Solutions,” Asian Perspective, vol. 31, No. 1 (2007), pp. 127-67. Each side has presented proposals for joint development of undersea resources (Japan in September 2005, China in June 2004 and March 2006), but basic issues of territorial control and jurisdiction stand in the way.

[33] See Peter Van Ness, “Why the Six Party Talks Should Succeed,” Asian Perspective, vol. 29, No. 2 (2005), pp. 231-46 and Van Ness, “The North Korean Nuclear Crisis: Four-Plus-Two—An Idea Whose Time Has Come,” in Mel Gurtov and Peter Van Ness, eds., Confronting the Bush Doctrine: Critical Views From the Asia-Pacific (London: Routledge-Curzon, 2005), pp. 242-59.

[34] The fisheries agreement established a joint commission to manage overlapping fishing areas. The security dialogues, of which there have been seven (through 2006), also include exchanges of visits by military personnel. On the latter, see Christopher W. Hughes, Japan's Security Agenda: Military, Economic, and Environmental Dimensions (Boulder, Colo.: Rienner, 2004), box 5.3, p. 196.

[35] For an extensive treatment of this issue, see my “U.S. Policy and Sino-Japanese Rivalry,” in Hsiung, ed., China and Japan At Odds, pp. 113-31.

[36] Minxin Pei and Michael Swaine, “Simmering Fire in Asia: Averting Sino-Japanese Strategic Conflict,” Policy Brief (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace), No. 44 (November, 2005), p. 7.

[37] “Japan's New Strategies,” Asahi Shimbun, May 23, 2007. The commentary said: “The important thing is that none of these moves should be confrontational—that is to say, they must not aim to isolate, antagonize or keep anyone in check. Otherwise, they will kill the dynamism of regional development. And this is where holding regular Japan-U.S.-China summits will be of great help.”

[38] Japanese concerns about Washington's China policy were rife in the Nixon years, at the time of the visit to China, and when the Clinton administration established a “strategic partnership” with China. See Gerald L. Curtis, “U.S. Policy toward Japan from Nixon to Clinton: An Assessment,” in Curtis, ed., New Perspectives on U.S.-Japan Relations (Tokyo: Japan Center for International Exchange, 2000), pp. 9-19. On China's perspective, Yang Bojiang (“Redefining Sino-Japanese Relations,” p. 135) writes that “the best choice for the United States would be to continue its alliance with Japan and South Korea and keep benign relations with China but also to transition to active promotion of multi-lateral cooperation throughout the region. Looking forward, the only way to resolve the regional security dilemma in East Asia completely is to promote multilateral security structures.”

[39] As Wu Xinbo writes: “If China has normal relations with the United States as well as Japan and trilateral relations are largely stable, Beijing will be less suspicious of a Washington-Tokyo axis …” Wu, “The End of the Silver Lining,” pp. 128-29.

[40] See Kenneth B. Pyle, Japan Rising: The Resurgence of Japanese Power and Purpose (New York: PublicAffairs, 2007), pp. 337-38, 348.

[41] Kent Calder (“China and Japan's Simmering Rivalry,” p. 136) suggests that energy cooperation provides an especially fruitful avenue for promoting Track II cooperation between China and Japan.

[42] Valencia, “The East China Sea Dispute.”

[43] Cohen and Pei, “A Vicious Sino-Japanese Cycle of Rhetoric.” On Sankei Shimbun's ability to silence critics of Japan's policies toward China, see David McNeill, “Softly, Softly,” Japan Focus, July 18, 2007.

[44] Akio Takahara, “Japanese NGOs in China,” in Lam, ed., Japan's Relations with China, pp. 166-79.

[45] James Auer, ed., From Marco Polo Bridge to Pearl Harbor: Who was Responsible? Tokyo: The Yomiuri Shimbun, 2006.

[46] China's official newspaper, the Beijing People's Daily, has certainly published its share of anti-Japanese articles; but it has also published positive commentaries, such as one endorsing “rational” and “moderate” nationalism in the two countries. See “Role of Nationalism in Sino-Japanese Relations,” People's Daily Online, February 16, 2007.

[47] Wakamiya Yoshibumi and Watanabe Tsuneo, “Yomiuri and Asahi Editors Call for a National Memorial to Replace Yasukuni,” Japan Focus, February 28, 2006.

[48] Two other groups that have made proposals concerning China-Japan reconciliation are: International Crisis Group, “North East Asia's Undercurrents of Conflict,” Report No. 108 (December 15, 2005); and Japan Forum on International Relations, Policy Council, “Japan and China in the Changing Asia” (Tokyo, October 2006).