ORIGINAL PAPER

Peace and community building in Northeast Asia

PAN Guang

Published online: 4 March 2008# Springer-Verlag 2007

Abstract This topic involves some difficulties, one of which is about the concept ofNortheast Asia. Broadly speaking, Northeast Asia should include China, Japan,Korean Peninsula, Russias Far East, and Mongolia. It is obviously not possible toaddress complex issues in such a broad region within several pages. Therefore, thispaper shall focus on the main part of Northeast Asia, i.e., China, Japan, and Korea.

Historical issues and new nationalism

The interchanges among peoples in Northeast Asia, especially those among theChinese, Japanese and Koreans, have taken place for at least 20 centuries. Japaneseand Korean cultures drew upon Chinese culture, and also influenced Chinese culturein return. The two millennia process of cultural exchanges among Chinese, Japaneseand Korean peoples has mainly been characterized by friendly communication andmutual learning, with conflicts lasting no more than 100 years in total, or no morethan one twentieth of the whole time. However, it is right this one twentieth that hasgiven rise to the so-called historical issues or problems, constituting emotionalbarriers impeding the relations among the three, mainly the SinoJapanese andKoreanJapanese relations. Although former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abepaid visits to China and Korea shortly after taking office, which alleviated theproblem to a considerable extent, it is understood by many that historical issuescannot get resolved quickly. It is agreed by all that, to resolve the historical issues, asensible principle to take is viewing history as a mirror while orienting towards thefuture. In the long run, neighbors cannot teach Japan how to act, which means thatonly the Japanese themselves may finally remove the historical barriers, as theGermans have done. Of course, before the final resolution happens, we should notallow the barriers to seriously restrain the normal relations among the three nations.

AEJ (2008) 6:119127DOI 10.1007/s10308-007-0162-y

P. Guang (*)The Institute of Eurasian Studies, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, 7/622 Huaihai Zhonglu,Shanghai, Chinae-mail: oys@sass.org.cn

In comparison with history, the rise of new nationalist sentiments in China, Japan,and Korea may produce a greater impact on the peace and development in NortheastAsia. The young generations of contemporary China, though having not experiencedthe pains of history, have not forgotten the tragic episodes when China was bullied byforeign powers, and they have developed a great sense of pride in the nationalachievements made since Deng Xiaoping initiated reforms and opening-up 30 yearsago. Having witnessed the difficult transformation in the former Soviet Union area andformer Yugoslav states in the 1990s, and growing up in the prosperity brought aboutby Deng Xiaopings policy, Chinese young people would rather that China continuedto take an incremental approach of development, with unity, stability and steadyeconomic growth forming a solid basis for such a gradualist strategy. Therefore, it isunderstandable that the young generation in China, elites among them in particular,feel very sensitive about any outside act that may affect Chinas unity, stability andsteady economic growth, and would not conceal their responses in face of such acts.The massive demonstrations staged in China following the bombing of the Chineseembassy in Belgrade in May 1999 gave a very good example. It was not ideology, butnational interests that played the role. Similar examples can be found with regard tothe SinoJapanese relationship. The protests against Japan in April 2005 were drivenmainly by nationalist sentiments unrelated to ideology. A most sensitive issue for theChinese is Taiwan. The young generations in China are strongly concerned aboutexternal forces using various means to prevent and even sabotage the Chinesereunification or to control the island. So any such outside act is closely watched and tobe reacted to.

In Japan, a new wave of nationalism is also on the rise, which has led to a lot oftalking about the so-called China threat. It is noteworthy that the China threatargument has expanded from political and security aspects to economic aspects inthe wake of strong Chinese economic growth and the consequent competition withJapan in energy and raw materials. Fred Bergsten, a noted American economist isquoted as saying, Staying in Japan for two days only, I was surprised to hear manybiased words about China, which make me worried. The Japanese concerns are verysimilar to those that Americans had about Japan back in the 1970s.1 In SouthKorea, there are also numerous expressions of new nationalism, especially anti-Japan sentiments raised for historical and island dispute reasons.2 Recently, there arealso demonstrations against the ROKUS free trade agreement and concerns aboutthe impact of Chinas rise on Korean interests.

Obviously, such uneasy feelings of viewing others as a real or potential threathave become psychological barriers hampering the development of ChinaJapanKorea relations and peace and community building in Northeast Asia. Such feelingscan work with emotional barriers of historical issues, and reinforce each other in timeof difficulties. In comparison with historical issues, those contemporary concerns arebased on frictions of real interests, and may be even more difficult to deal with.

1 New York Times, November 20, 2001. Also see Japans Rising Nationalism Enrages Asia, TheObserver, London (UK), July 15, 2001.2 See Seouls Younger Leaders Fear Tokyo More Than Pyongyang, http://www.stratfor.com

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Exchange and cooperation as the mainstream

Despite numerous problems and contradictions, it should be acknowledged thatexchange and cooperation form the mainstream of international relations inNortheast Asia. From a Chinese perspective, this paper would focus on thedevelopment of the exchange and cooperative relations between China and Japan,and between China and South Korea.

Since the establishment of their formal diplomatic relations in 1972, China andJapan have witnessed fast development in their bilateral interactions. Trade betweenthe two, merely $1.04 billion in 1972, exceeded $100 billion in 2002, and jumpedfurther to $207.6 billion in 2006.3 The doubling from $100 billion to $200 billiontook only 4 years, and the total trade volume increased by nearly 200 times in the35 years. The accumulated Japanese investment in China is now $58 billion, with atotal of over 30,000 business projects.4 While in 1972 merely several thousandJapanese visited China, with almost no Chinese visiting Japan, the number of mutualvisitors approximated 5 million in 2006.5 Meanwhile, 233 pairs of cities haveformed sisterly relationships, and more and more people are now studying orworking in the other country.6 A good example is Shanghai, the authors hometown,where over 50,000 Japanese citizens live and work on a long-term basis.

Regarding the SinoROK relationship, the year 2007 marked the 15th anniversaryof its normalization. Friendly bilateral relations have developed comprehensivelyover the past 15 years, with economic and trade relations growing in an especiallyfast manner. In 1992 the trade volume between two countries was only $5 billion.But in 2006 it grew dramatically to $134.3 billion, increasing by 26 times andmaking each a major trade partner of the other.7 In the meantime, bilateralinvestment has expanded as impressively. By the end of 2006 the number of Koreaninvested companies in China had exceeded 30,000 with an accumulated capital of$35 billion. 8More and more Chinese companies are now making their business inSouth Korea. People-to-people exchange has also become much closer between twocountries. According to the figures of 2006 over 500,000 South Koreans are nowliving in China, and visitors to each other surpass 5 million a year, with nearly 800flights shuttling between two countries every week.9 Of every three overseasstudents studying in China, there is one from South Korea. On the other hand,Chinese students in South Korea have now reached 24,000. By the way, tenthousands of students from ROK, including primary and middle school pupils, visitthe Museum of Provisional Government of Republic of Korean located in Shanghai,and this city also has a little Seoul where many Koreans reside in.

3 Website of the General Administration of Customs of the PRC: http://www.customs.gov.cn4 Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, April 4, 2007.5 Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, April 4, 2007.6 Wen Jiabao: Speech at the National Diet (parliament) of Japan, Tokyo, April 12, 2007.7 Website of the General Administration of Customs of the PRC: http://www.customs.gov.cn8 Wen Jiabao: Speech at the luncheon with Korean and Chinese entrepreneurs, Seoul, April 11, 2007.9 Wen Jiabao: Speech at the luncheon with Korean and Chinese entrepreneurs, Seoul, April 11, 2007.

Peace and community building in Northeast Asia 121

Recently, especially after Shinzo Abe became the Japanese Prime Minister,meetings among leaders of China, Japan and South Korea become more regularized.The seventh meeting of Chinese, Japanese and South Korean leaders in Cebu, thePhilippines in January 2007 decided, while further promoting the political, economicand, cultural cooperation among the three countries, to expand cooperation totreasury, finance, science and technology, healthcare, tourism, logistics, andexchange among teenagers.10 It was also decided that 2007 would be a Year ofCultural Interchange among China, Japan, and South Korea. 11Along with this, thethree countries are now continuing their active participation in such processes asASEAN plus 3, ASEAN plus 3 plus India, Australia and New Zealand, APEC, andASEM, where they all play major roles. And significantly, the three countries have,by working together with the United States, Russia and DPRK, made progress in thesix-party talks regarding the North Korean nuclear issue, as shown by thebreakthrough in February, June and October 2007.

Principles for peace and community building

The challenge that we face now is how to move away the barriers obstructing thefurther growth of our relations in the 21st century, so as to realize the ambitioustarget of constructing lasting peace and community in Northeast Asia. It is believedthe following principles are worthy our attention.

The first principle is to increase mutual trust and reduce mutual suspicion, whichmeans to enhance our confidence-building measures while minimizing our mutualmisunderstanding. China used to have almost incessant conflicts with the SovietUnion along their over 7,000-km-long border. However, as a result of our mutualconfidence-building, the complex problems left over from history became resolvedin a matter of several years. This presents a striking contrast to the vicious circle ofhate and violence in Middle East where the Israelis and Palestinians and other Arabshave no basic trust at all. To increase mutual trust and reduce mutual suspicionbetween China and Japan, political leaders, scholars and the media can all playsignificant roles. Not long ago, a Chinese scholar wrote an article, arguing that it isnot possible for Japan to return to the militarist road, for these reasons: 1) theexisting constitution and political system do not allow the return to a militaristregime; 2) with the strong influence from values of individualism nurtured duringthe US occupation, there is no soil for widespread militarist ideas in the society; 3)having no strategic hinterlands, a densely populated Japan with nuclear plants cannotengage in any full-scale war in this missile era without incurring disasters on itself.Whether these arguments are wholly sound or not, such an article is certainly helpfulfor developing a better understanding of Japan or even reducing certain suspicionsabout the country. Likewise, Japanese and Korean scholars may also do things ofthis kind for promoting their mutual understanding. It is important that media should

10 Peoples Daily, Beijing, January 15, 2007.11 Peoples Daily, Beijing, January 15, 2007.

122 P. Guang

not demonize other countries and nations, as such propaganda can only mislead thepeople.

The second principle is to expand our common ground while putting aside thedifferences. It should be recognized that China, Japan, and South Korea havedifferent views regarding certain specific interests and issues. Yet, in comparisonwith our common interests, the differences are obviously of a lower order. So long aswe take strategic, long-term and historically responsible attitudes, and have adequatesincerity and confidence in conducting dialogue, those problems among the threecountries can always be resolved by peaceful and appropriate means. On someknotty issues like the disputes over islands and maritime resources, we may shelvethe problem in case no mutually satisfactory solution can be found for the moment.Common development may be undertaken while negotiations continue, so thatsubstantial steps along peaceful lines of conduct will turn the seas among us into tiesof peace, friendship and cooperation. In the same way, in case of trade disputes thatare sometimes unavoidable among the three countries, mutually acceptable andbeneficial solutions should always be sought patiently and actively, as antagonismcan only lead to mutual losses. In the SinoJapanese trade dispute in 2001, theagricultural sector of China got hurt, while Japanese automobile and other sectorsalso sustained losses. Later on, by negotiations on the trade frictions, both sidescame to final terms, which avoided further conflicts and losses, and have also set agood example to our future actions.

The third principle is to seek reciprocity and winwin. The Chinese, Japanese andSouth Korean economies are highly complementary, which provides great potentialsof cooperation. Most businessmen and consumers see opportunities and benefitsrather than threats in the fast developing economic cooperation among us. Forexample, both Japanese and South Korean business communities are showing astrong interest in investing in the fast expanding Chinese economy. As revealed byJapan Economic News surveys, over 70% of Japanese manufacturers are attemptingto relocate their production lines to overseas, and half of them regard China as adestination.12 Such moves are in the long run conducive to both Japanese andKorean business operations, and conducive to the Chinese economy as well. To besure, alongside the reciprocity, certain negative consequences may also be inevitablein the short run, such as job losses and industrial restructuring in the wake of theshifting. But it is unfair and short-sighted to put the blame on China. As a matter offact, in facilitating their industrial relocations, China helps Japanese and Koreanfirms to reduce their costs, to enhance their competitiveness, to expand their markets,and to get through their business downturns. In the final analysis, only when theircorporate performance improves remarkably can the Japanese and Koreaneconomies sustain their growth and bring down the unemployment rate. Clearly, inthis evolving world of economic globalization, the interdependence among nations isdeepening, which means that economies share a common fate in their interactions,and the traditional zero-sum game is no longer valid. In conclusion, only by takingcare of others interests whilst pursuing ones own interests can we really reapsustainable winwin development and common prosperity.

12 New York Times, November 20, 2001.

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Working on cultural, economic and security cooperation

By demonstrating the great benefits brought about by comprehensive cooperation inNortheast Asia, various differences in opinions and interests in the region will getcontrolled or even resolved at the end of the day. Broadening of our cooperation,culture, economy and security are three areas of priority.

In China, Japan and Korea, there are no people who view the cultures of the othertwo nations as threats, given the cultural affinity that has been enjoyed for long. TheJapanese Emperor, in talking to Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji, said that there hadlong been very in-depth cultural interactions between the two countries, as reflectedin the presence of widespread Chinese influence in such historical cities in Japan asKyoto and Naro. He also remarked that, therefore, he would love to go to Xianwhen visiting China, which he did later. As early as the Qin and Han dynasties, ricegrowing, silkworm raising, textile making, iron processing, etc. spread from Chinato Japan and Korea, and Chinese language characters, Confucianism, Buddhism, artsand rituals spread as well. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao mentioned many casesduring his recent visit to Japan and South Korea: Japan sent emissaries to the Tangdynasty for over ten times, and a most prominent figure Abe Nakamaro( ) among them even served as a high official in the imperial Tangcourt, becoming a good friend of great Chinese poets like Wang Wei and Li Bai; therenowned Chinese monk Jian Zhen ( ) made great efforts over 12 years insailing to Japan and introducing the Buddhist teachings to Japanese; during the Tangtimes, a prince of Silla dynasty Kim Kyo-kak ( ) engaged himself in seriousBuddhist training in Mount Jiuhua in China, and became worshipped later as aBuddha reborn; a Silla writer Choe Chi-won ( ) lived and worked for a longtime in Yangzhou, China, and has left us famous literary collections GyeweonPilgyeong (Plowing the Cassia Grove with A Writing Brush, ); aKorean famous novelist Ho Kyun ( ), during his stay in China of the Mingdynasty, wrote such well-remembered poetry lines eulogizing the SinoKoreanfriendship: Differences there are between countries, peoples are nevertheless thesame. All are brothers when born to this world, what is the need to make nationaldistinctions. Devoted are we to each other heart and soul, forever let us share theweal and woe; following the Meiji Restoration, a large number of Chinesereformists went to Japan, seeking to learn modern science and technology as well asnew social and political practices for the resurrection of their motherland. Amongthese Chinese pioneers studying in Japan are such great Chinese names as Sun Yat-sen, Zhou Enlai, Lu Xun, and Guo Moruo.13 Obviously, there are no barriers at all inpromoting the cultural cooperation among the three nations. Professor Yoda Yochiie( ) at Waseda University believes that Japan proposed shortly after theconclusion of the Second World War to build a cultural power, and now that Chinahas developed its economy, it should also pay enough attention to the culturalreconstruction and restore its traditional status as a cultural power. According to him,all the three nations in Northeast Asia should assist each other in bringing about arenaissance of East Asian cultures. Now, his idea has come true: 2007 is a Year of

13 Wen Jiabao: Speech at the National Diet (parliament) of Japan, Tokyo, April 12, 2007. See also WenJiabaos speech at the luncheon with Korean and Chinese entrepreneurs, Seoul, April 11, 2007.

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Cultural Interchange among China, Japan, and Korea, and also a Year of Exchangebetween China and Korea and a Year of Cultural and Sports Exchange betweenChina and Japan. As required by the 21st Massive Exchange Project for Teenagersin East Asia, each party will implement a series of exchange programs involvingteenagers. Japan has declared that it will invite a large number of Chinese seniorhigh school students to visit Japan in coming 5 years.14 China and Japan havedecided to establish cultural centers in each others capital city.15 Regarding thecultural exchange between China and ROK, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has saidthat the government will give further encouragement to bilateral cultural commu-nication, including in particular the import of Korean art and cultural products( ). Indeed, among the 47 exchange programs endorsed by the Chinesegovernment, most of them belong to cultural programs.16

In the economic sphere, there are still great potentials to the cooperation.First, facilitation should be made for the trade and investment among the three

countries, so that real progress can be made towards establishing a free trade zone inNortheast Asia. Already the three parties are working for an early agreement onmutual investment among the three, and for an action plan to improve the businessenvironment involving the three. A joint non-governmental research regarding theSinoKorean free trade agreement has now concluded its work, while the officialstudy involving the government, industrial and academic circles have already madesome headway.17 All this certainly lays the ground work for the final establishmentof a free trade zone in Northeast Asia.

Second, cooperation in the energy sector should be pushed forward. China, Japan,and South Korea are now the second, third, and fourth largest energy consumers inthe world, already showing a trend of competition in securing energy supply. It istherefore highly necessary that the three countries should strengthen cooperativedialogue and coordination in this field. Recently the three have all participated in thenew structure of energy ministerial meetings which also involves the US and Indiafor an exchange of minds. Meanwhile, China and Japan have held their firstministerial-level energy policy dialogue, with a joint statement issued on the bilateralenergy cooperation. It is expected that all the three countries engage in moreintensive coordination in global energy development and procurement in order toavoid vicious competition and to secure benefits for all.

Third, cooperation should be facilitated in environmental protection. BetweenChina and Japan, recently a Joint Declaration on Further Strengthening Cooperationin Environmental Protection has been adopted. This declaration aims at joint effortsto treat the water pollution in Bohai Sea, Huanghai Sea, and the Yangtse Rivervalley, to build a recycling-based society, to prevent air pollution, to cope withclimatic change, to prevent garbage from drifting on the sea surface, to tackle the

14 China-Japan Joint Communique, Tokyo, April 11, 2007.15 China-Japan Joint Communique, Tokyo, April 11, 2007.16 Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, April 5, 2007.17 Premier Wen Jiabao: Speech at the luncheon with Korean and Chinese entrepreneurs, Seoul, April 11,2007.

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acid rain and sandstorm, etc.18 Similar campaigns can also be launched betweenChina and Korea, and between Korea and Japan.

Fourth, Japanese and Korean companies should be supported for participating inChinese industrial development. China, as a country much larger than the other twoin territorial expanse, is now engaged simultaneously in numerous large-scaledevelopment campaigns like the development of the west, resurrection of the oldindustrial base in Northeast, promotion of the hinterlands development, and soon. These various projects definitely provide opportunities to Japanese and Koreanbusinesses, some of whom, indeed, have already had a good record of makingprofits.

Fifth, cooperation in hi-tech development should be facilitated. Time is now ripefor encouraging joint development to move from manufacturing to advancedtechnology sectors, and to expand from processing and assembling to research,design, development and commercialization. In this regard, such sectors asenvironmental protection, energy saving, logistics and IT feature highly in theupcoming high-tech cooperation.

Sixth, finance should be made a new focus in cooperation, and an immediatepriority should be the joint collaboration in financial supervision.

Seventhly, cooperation should now include intellectual property rights. Dialogueand exchange must be strengthened in this field so that this region as a whole willreach an advanced level in the protection of intellectual property rights.

And finally, a high-level mechanism of economic dialogue should be established.There is now one such mechanism between China and Japan, which even coversnon-core issues like the assistance to third countries. It is conceivable that thismechanism progresses to a high-level regional economic dialogue involving all thethree.

In the security sphere, China, Japan, and South Korea can also engage inproductive cooperation. The most important issue at present is, of course, the six-party talks, which should be continued, so that the North Korean nuclear issue canbe finally resolved and the Korean Peninsula becomes a nuclear-free zone. Buildingon this basis, the three countries may proceed to build not only a peace ensuringstructure on the Korean Peninsula, but also a multilateral security structure inNortheast Asia. In the meanwhile, three sides should also step up our cooperation onnon-conventional security issues, including, aside from energy security, environ-mental protection and climatic change, disease prevention, terrorism, proliferation ofweapons of mass destruction, cross-border crimes like drug trafficking, smugglingand illegal immigration, etc. Regarding anti-terrorism, the three sides can shareintelligence, jointly cut down the financial lines of terrorist groups, hold bilateral ormultilateral searching & rescue operations and anti-terror exercises, and so on. Toraise the level of security cooperation, the three states should establish specialdialogue mechanism among the top leaders and defense department leaders.Between China and South Korea, and between Japan and South Korea, there isalready such a mechanism in place. China and Japan confirmed to build such a

18 China-Japan Joint Communique, Tokyo, April 11, 2007.

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mechanism between the two countries during Premier Wen Jiabaos recent visit toJapan.19 In this way, foreign ministers of the two states will keep close cooperationon those bilateral and global issues of common concern, and strategic and securitydialogue will follow.20 As arranged, the Chinese defense minister paid a successfulvisit to Japan this autumn, partly to pave the way for Chinese naval ships visitingJapanese ports, to be followed by Japanese naval ships visiting in return.21 Toprevent any unexpected contingency on sea, links between Chinese and Japanesedefense authorities will be strengthened. These measures in or to be in placecertainly lay a foundation for trilateral high-level diplomatic and defense dialoguemechanism in the region.

Conclusion

Long-term adversaries like France and Germany, and Poland and Germany inEurope have buried their old grudges and embraced cooperation. There is no reasonwhy China, Japan and Korea should not and cannot do so in East Asia. The closecooperation among the three countries will be crucial for securing peace andcommunity building in Northeast Asia, and for, more broadly, the stability anddevelopment in East Asia, the Asia-Pacific region and even the whole world. It ishoped such cooperation will include DPRK as well before long. A Broad East Asia(10+3+3) in close cooperation will be a strong partner as well as a competitor forboth the European Union and the US. Such an East Asia will greatly promote thetrade, investment and development efforts worldwide, and will really constitute oneof the three engines, together with the EU and the US, to drive forward the progressof the international community.

19 China-Japan Joint Communique, Tokyo, April 11, 2007.20 China-Japan Joint Communique, Tokyo, April 11, 2007.21 China-Japan Joint Communique, Tokyo, April 11, 2007.

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Peace and community building in Northeast AsiaAbstractHistorical issues and new nationalismExchange and cooperation as the mainstreamPrinciples for peace and community buildingWorking on cultural, economic and security cooperationConclusion

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