Forum highlights role of 'public diplomacy'

A difference in understanding over history has created something of a wall between China and Japan, a barrier that experts and officials from both sides have been trying to break down at the Second Beijing-Tokyo Forum.

"What is really annoying is the 'wall' in people's minds," said Zhao Qizheng, vice-director of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), yesterday on the first day of the two-day event.

"We are seriously discussing the China-Japan relationship in an attempt to find solutions to the problems it faces," said Zhao, former minister of the State Information Office. "We can move bilateral relations to a friendly track metre by metre."

The three political documents the Chinese and Japanese sides have signed stipulate the basic principles that China and Japan should abide by, Zhao said, as they exhibit what the two governments have done to safeguard their national and common interests.

"The Chinese Government has been trying hard to improve bilateral relations even in very difficult times," he said.

The Chinese Government has made it clear that the Sino-Japanese relationship is of great significance to the common interests of the two countries and harmony in Asia, he said, noting the government has appealed for all people to understand the whole picture of the contacts between the two countries and Japanese people's attitudes towards China.

"Sino-Japanese relations are characterized by frosty political ties but active economic exchanges. The cold political wind will discourage economic co-operation," Zhao said.

He suggested that the two countries take advantage of the cultural dimension to push bilateral relations forward. Cultural contacts between the two peoples have long been an important part of China-Japan relations.

For example, more and more Chinese students are studying Japanese as their first foreign language.

Zhao therefore recommended that "public diplomacy" be developed as a new way to strengthen bilateral relations.

Defining public diplomacy, Zhao said it meant contacts between the two countries "beyond diplomatic channels."

"Public diplomacy can explore more channels for interaction between the two peoples. A better understanding between them will serve as a solid foundation for further development of political and economic relations," he said.

Zhao described the visit to China by the seven Japan-China friendship organizations based in Japan in March as a successful example of public diplomacy.

Chen Haosu, president of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, said a lot rests on exchanges between non-governmental organizations.

As the current misbalance of political and economic ties is so abnormal, consultations on an equal footing are needed to help solve problems, he said.

Together with its Japanese counterpart, Chen's association marked the 60th anniversary of the repatriation of wartime Japanese emigrants in Huludao, Northeast China's Liaoning Province, on June 25 this year.

A total of 1.05 million Japanese emigrants, victims of their country's colonial expansion, were repatriated from China's Huludao to Japan from May 7, 1946 to 1948.

"The repatriation shows that China and Japan began to settle bilateral issues as early as 1946," Chen said.

People-to-people contacts should be developed so that the two peoples can get to know each other well, he added.

Surveys in both countries

Surveys on China-Japan relations conducted simultaneously in the two countries early this year found that both Chinese and Japanese are well aware of the importance of contacts between the two countries.

More than 72 per cent of Japanese respondents and 92 per cent of Chinese surveyed spoke highly of the people-to-people contacts.

Nearly 13 per cent of Japanese respondents had been to China while only 1.2 per cent of the Chinese surveyed had visited Japan.

"The geographic closeness does not actually facilitate frequent contact between the two peoples," said Li Yu, a professor of International Relations at Peking University.

Nearly 53 per cent of Japanese respondents hoped to visit China while about 43 per cent chose not to go. Some 34 per cent of those who decided not to visit China blamed deteriorating relations.

The survey in China showed that nearly 60 per cent of respondents had no plans to visit Japan. Lack of money and concerns over language problems were the top two reasons, with the poor bilateral relationship third.

This is the second time that Chinese and Japanese media, academic experts and non-governmental organizations have conducted this type of survey. The annual forum will be accompanied by similar surveys.