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BEIJING – It's been eight years since China surpassed Japan as the world's second largest economy. Yet, the Japanese government has continued to provide China with development assistance that is generally reserved for the poorest countries. Until now.
In Beijing, on the occasion of the first official visit of a Japanese leader since 2011, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe acknowledged China's economic dominance in announcing the end of aid. Instead, he is committed to forging deeper economic and political cooperation, in what is widely regarded as a protection against the unstable and above all American policies of President Trump.
This announcement, coupled with the new cooperation agreements signed by Abe on Friday with his Chinese counterpart, Li Keqiang, marked a significant shift in the war-torn and occupation-laden relationship, which is still strained by territorial conflicts. Other problems that, at least publicly, have retreated into the background.
"From competition to cooperation, relations between Japan and China are moving into a new phase," said Abe during an appearance with Mr. Li following the announcement. a welcome ceremony on Tiananmen Square including a salute to the cannon and a review of the troops under blue crisp.
"We are neighbors, we are partners who will cooperate with each other, rather than threaten each other," said Abe.
The Japanese leader, who had been looking for an official visit to the Chinese capital for a long time, was accompanied by Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministers and more than 1,000 businessmen and women, who would have come to discuss projects. infrastructure and other joint projects in several countries in the region.
This reflected a greater focus on trade and investment and a break with the 40-year program of Chinese development aid. Many have seen this aid program, launched in 1978 in what the two countries described as a new beginning in their relationship, as a form of expiation for Japan's brutal invasion of Japan in 1937 , which paved the way for the Second World War.
Japan has "ended its historic mission" of financial assistance to China, Abe said at a reception after his arrival Thursday night. "Now, Japan and China are playing vital roles for economic growth not only in Asia, but around the world," he said.
Li said Friday that the relations were "back to their normal trajectory".
"I hope that further progress will be made," he said, adding that President Xi Jinping signature program "One Belt, One Road" to invest in infrastructure and other projects in Eurasia. Japan has expressly refused to participate in this initiative, which is causing growing skepticism in some countries.
But Abe has indicated his willingness to support new joint projects as long as China will lead them in international standards of transparency, environmental protection and economic viability, said a spokesman later.
Significant sign of closer economic cooperation, the central banks of the two countries also agreed to exchange 200 billion renminbi, or 3.2 trillion yen – the equivalent of $ 29 billion – against a use in case of financial emergency. Other agreements concerned the protection of intellectual property and the environment.
Few people expect the two countries to overcome their divisions easily or quickly. In his talks on Friday, Abe raised issues of human rights and security, especially around the islands of the East China Sea, which have been claimed by both countries, said the press a spokesman, Takeshi Osuga.
"Without stability in the East China Sea, there can be no real improvement in relations," he said, paraphrasing Abe.
Mr. Abe went to China four times to meet with Xi on the sidelines of various international gatherings, but this was the first invitation to an official bilateral meeting. Osuga dismissed a question about the role that Trump's policies have played in encouraging the two countries to cooperate more closely.
In nearly 40 years that Japan has channeled foreign aid to China, it has provided 3.6 trillion yen in support of infrastructure, humanitarian projects and environmental protection.
Analysts in both countries said the decision to end the aid made sense in the current context.
"Until now, the relationship between Japan and China was that Japan was the developed and modernized country, leading China to the forefront of its modernization," said Akio Takahara, a professor at the University of Tokyo.
China has always been reluctant to recognize the extent of Japan's assistance, except to imply that Japan offered it as a liability following the bloody scare of the Second World War.
Yu Tiejun, vice president of the Institute of International and Strategic Studies at Peking University and a visiting scholar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said that many Chinese people knew little about 39 – help – "China has not talked much about Japanese assistance to its people," he said, but that it was considered to have had a positive impact on over the years.
Nevertheless, he added, "China should have graduated long ago."
"Japan played an important role in this process, but it has been given little credit," she said.
Japan has never officially declared that aid, most of which consisted of loans interrupted 10 years ago, represented any type of war reparation. However, Japanese analysts said it played a role, at least at the beginning of the program, and many people saw it that way.
"Japanese politicians who started with overseas development assistance had this in mind," said Takahara. He added that given the political sensitivity of official war crimes in Japan, it was difficult for a leader to openly declare that aid was anything other than economic aid for a developing neighbor. .
Some historians dispute the idea that help represented a form of atonement.
"You could think of other reasons why Japan might be encouraged to be particularly generous with their help, which has absolutely nothing to do with a sense of historical guilt," he said. Jennifer Lind, Associate Professor of Government at Dartmouth College and Specialist in Japanese War Memory.
Japan "has provided a lot of money to help China with the environment," Lind said. "But it's because Japan is worried about the weather that is causing China's pollution to Japan. They had every interest in helping China determine how to clean up its air. "
In 2007, Japan ended its yen loan program, which accounted for about three-quarters of its aid to China. Only small-scale grants to local communities remain for individual projects.
Japan now proposes to cooperate with China in such projects in Southeast Asia. The advantage for Japan is that it can move away from direct competition with China for such projects and adopt a cooperative program allowing it to dictate certain environmental and labor standards.
"I think it's a wise choice for Japan to use this opportunity to get started in China," said Kristi Govella, Assistant Professor of Asian Studies at the University of Hawaii in Manoa. "Of course, they can not just say that they put an end to the help because it would be a negative thing on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of Sino-Japanese friendship."
