New Conditions for Invitation

China looks like going forward to accepting Japanese Prime Minister with some conditions. While Chinese government invited Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to the memorial ceremony of victory against Japan in September, Abe has been negative in participating it. China’s new offer was an alternative way for improving the bilateral relation with Japan. It is still unclear, however, whether Japan can accept those conditions that are mostly intervention to internal politics.

Mainichi Shimbun reported the substance of a meeting between Japanese National Security Adviser, Shotaro Yachi, and Chinese State Councilor, Yang Jiechi, in Beijing last Friday. In the five-hour meeting, they reconfirmed necessity to maintain and develop bilateral dialogue and talked about possibility of meeting by top leaders of both nations.

There is a concern in Chinese public worrying about new security legislature against Chinese advance. Some doubt that the legislature may violate the Treaty of Peace and Friendship for both nations. “We cannot help worrying that Japan is abolishing its unilaterally defensive policy and embracing doubtful feeling against Japan,” told Yang to Yachi. Yang had to lay three conditions, if Abe would not attend the victory ceremony, to persuade Chinese public.

The first of them was to reconfirm four political documents between the two nations. They were Joint Statement in 1972 that normalized diplomatic relation and China abandoned all demands to Japan for compensation related to the war, Peace and Friendship Treaty in 1978 that reconfirmed independence on arms in resolving all conflicts, Joint Declaration in 1998 in which Japan promised maintenance of Murayama Statement, and Joint Statement for promoting strategic reciprocal relationship.

The second was maintenance of spirit of Murayama Statement which apologized Japan’s aggression. And the last was not visiting Yasukuni Shrine. Implementing four political documents are easy for Japan, because it is a matter of diplomatic obligation. But other two are something about intervention of China into Japanese domestic politics, at least for Abe and his right wing colleagues.

The key event will be Abe’s statement on the seventieth anniversary from the end of war. He is highly reluctant to apologize for wrong policy of waging war by Imperial Japan. It is also unlikely for China to make further compromise in Abe’s visit to China. Abe’s visit to China depends on whether he accepts Murayama Statement, which he has fundamentally hated.