China Redux

It looks as if Chinese-Japanese relations have reached new heights. On Wednesday, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Japanese PM Shinzo Abe met to discuss opportunities for strategic cooperation between the two countries. Great quote from the AP (via the Guardian):

The Japanese were eager to stifle talk of disagreements. When asked about reports that Wen considered the visit an ‘ice-melting trip,’ Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki said: ‘We’re not aware of any remaining ice.’

It’s nice to see Japan and China playing nice. But it’s not as if the issues which caused the long-running spat have been solved: Japan has refused to offer a full apology for crimes committed during World War II (although it has taken some half-measures, discussed in more depth here), and neither side is jumping to offer concessions on claims to natural gas reserves in the East China Sea.

It’s the former problem, that question of history, that poses the greatest concern. At the moment, tensions have subsided while both sides attempt to “face up to history,” as the Kyodo News agency termed it. But no one’s really budging in this dispute. It’s a political game-changer in both countries, and neither Abe nor Wen can afford to shut the door on a return to ugliness.

Will politicans on both sides be able to resist the temptation to stoke populist passions at home with ahistorical, xenophobic nonsense? I’m not overly optimistic. Which is why it’s important to have these kinds of meetings when relations are calm — because it won’t always be that way.

UPDATE: There’s a nice post on this topic at Newsweek.com by Susan Shirk, a former senior official at the State Department and China expert. Well worth reading to gain a deeper understanding of how Chinese-Japanese relations are a hot-button domestic political issue countries for both countries, and why the tension won’t go away any time soon.

Fascinating analysis of the US-China trade rift by Charles Hugh Smith at the Of Two Minds Blog.

The post offers convincing arguments for why the US is actually benefiting more than China from the two countries’ trading relationship, in spite of substantial US trade deficits and some manufacturing job losses.

The protectionist hysteria gaining mindshare in Congress may be good politics to some, but it overlooks one simple fact about U.S.-China trade: the U.S. is making out like a bandit.