Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe addresses a session at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Jan.22, 2014. Mr. Abe raised eyebrows when he said China and Japan are "in a similar situation" to Britain and Germany before the outbreak of World War I. Ruben Sprich/Reuters/File
Why Will Japan And China Avoid Conflict? They Need Each Other -- Justin McCurry, Christian Science Monitor
Despite dark allusions to Germany and Britain in 1914, the two powers' economies are deeply intertwined, and Japanese doing business in China are guardedly optimistic.
One of the most striking warnings that Sino-Japanese tensions could descend into conflict came from none other than Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe.
Speaking at the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, Abe suggested that Japan’s relationship with China was in a “similar situation” to that between Britain and Germany before the outbreak of World War I in 1914. The most common interpretation: that close economic ties between nations are not always enough to prevent them from going to war with each other.
Japanese officials insisted that Mr. Abe’s comments, as reported by some foreign media, had been taken out of context. But his analogy raises an important question about the ongoing territorial dispute between Japan and China: whether strong bilateral trade will be enough to pull them back from the brink or, at the very least, help them weather the current diplomatic storm. The answer – at least for now – is yes, according to the consensus emerging among the myriad Japanese companies with business interests in China.
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My Comment: While it is true that economic relations between the two countries is deeply intertwined .... other factors are now coming into play. Nationalism in both countries has been escalating as well as a growing sense in China that grievances from the Second World War have not been properly addressed by Japan. In my many travels to China over the years .... I have noticed this growing resentment and hatred towards Japan .... especially in the past 2-3 years. If this continues to escalate .... one can then only speculate on where this may eventually lead.
1 comment:
I love these type of articles. But when the shooting starts you rarely hear of the writer or his piece again.
For something everyone claims not to want to do, war seems unaccountably popular.
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