When the Great East Japan Earthquake hit on March 11, I was in Beijing on business, where I was once posted as a correspondent. The nightmarish images I saw on television were so shocking that I was speechless.
When the Great East Japan Earthquake hit on March 11, I was in Beijing on business, where I was once posted as a correspondent. The nightmarish images I saw on television were so shocking that I was speechless.
Soon, I remembered the following comment that was posted on the Internet after the 2008 Great Sichuan Earthquake: "If we enter a war against Japan, we would go to the front and fight. But if the Japanese are hit by a major earthquake, we would be among the first to go to Japan to help them."
It was one of the comments by Chinese youths who expressed gratitude for Japan's support in disaster relief.
I don't know whether they actually went to Japan, but in China, many people responded quickly to help Japan.
Although the Chinese government was busy dealing with relief measures for a major earthquake that hit Yunnan province in southern China the previous day, it immediately decided to dispatch an international rescue team and send relief supplies. Comments to encourage Japan also inundated the Internet.
"The Art of War," an ancient Chinese military treatise attributed to Sun Tzu, advocates that if opposing camps are in the same boat, they must help each other in peace while crossing the river.
A Chinese newspaper ran a commentary by a renowned Chinese expert on Japan, who called on the peoples of China and Japan to join hearts and hands, share difficulties and jointly fight the earthquake.
It appeared that Japan-China relations, which got shaky after the collision between a Chinese trawler and Japanese Coast Guard patrol vessels off the disputed Senkaku islands in September 2010, drastically improved with the Chinese side actively providing aid toward quake-stricken Japan. Relations with Russia and South Korea that got strained over territorial issues also seemed to be easing.
However, as the accident at Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant grew more serious, their view toward the Japanese government has grown harder.
"It is very normal to extend a helping hand to people who are facing difficulties. Just because China helped Japan when it was hit by an earthquake, it doesn't mean China-Japan relations have fundamentally changed," a Chinese commentator said. Such cool views are shared by many Chinese intellectuals.
While Operation Tomodachi, the U.S. military disaster relief operation following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, impressed the strength of Japan-U.S. relations, I believe Japan's diplomacy with neighboring countries is facing the moment of truth.
Actually, the administration of Naoto Kan is too busy with disaster relief measures and apparently has no time to focus on foreign policy. But by facing squarely with the Fukushima accident, the administration will be able to meet its diplomatic obligation.
If so, why not make use of opposition parties' resources instead of trying to deal with the situation by itself?
The Liberal Democratic Party has former prime ministers, including Yasuo Fukuda, whom the Chinese side trusts. New Komeito also has close ties with China. As far as neighborhood relations are concerned, opposition parties have more personnel with stronger ties with neighboring countries than the ruling coalition.
In order to keep in step with the world with stronger solidarity and also to answer international goodwill, the nation's diplomacy must not take a break.
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Hidehito Fujiwara is an Asahi Shimbun senior staff writer in charge of editorials on international affairs.