Time for Japan to rethink home policy
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Troubles never come alone [By Jiao Haiyang/China.org.cn] |
Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan named Takeaki Matsumoto as foreign minister on Wednesday after Seiji Maehara stepped down for receiving a campaign donation illegally. On Monday, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said that he would maintain good working relations with the next Japanese foreign minister no matter who is named for the post.
Yang's remarks highlight the importance of China-Japan relations. As he emphasized, "pursuing a sound Sino-Japanese relationship is a wise choice for both sides".
Hence, it was disappointing to see Japan lodge a formal protest earlier this week after a Chinese helicopter flew by Diaoyu Islands, which is an undisputable part of China's territory. China and Japan both should properly handle this sensitive issue. But it is especially important for Japanese politicians to prevent another row over the Diaoyu Islands.
The Japanese ruling party, Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), should realize that it cannot win more domestic support by taking a hard stance on disputes with other countries. In fact, the DPJ started territorial disputes with China, the Republic of Korea and Russia to arrest its falling support base.
Before that, Japanese leaders including former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi used to visit Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Japan's war dead including class-A criminals in World War II, to arouse patriotism among supporters and get their renewed backing. But since the DPJ has vowed that its leaders will never visit the shrine, Naoto Kan and his cabinet colleagues resorted to territorial disputes to swell up its support and weather its political crisis.
Japan's Kyodo News Agency has reported that the Japanese government has started registering households on disputed islands to gain an upper hand in territorial disputes. By January, 520 Japanese households had transferred their registration to the disputed islands, including the South Kuril Islands (Chishima Retto as Japan calls it) and the Diaoyu Islands.
Despite that, the Kan administration has failed to increase its support rate.
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