Introduction to the Special Issue

Abstract

Asian Perspective 38 (2014), 179-182 Introduction to the Special Issue GregoryJ. Moore While not new, the dispute between China and Japan over the Diaoyu (as they are called in China) or Senkaku (as they are called in Japan) Islands has brought the bilateral relationship to new lows and threatens to derail altogether the pragmatic SinoJapanese relationship forged between the two in the 1970s. In fact, Japanese prime minister Abe Shinzo has said that China and Japan today face a situation similar to that faced by Germany and Great Britain in 1914, a statement that made some listeners acutely uncomfortable, either because they feared he was right or because they were disturbed that he sees China as analogous to Germany—or both. The islands issue has increasingly become the primary source oftension between China and Japan, or at least the place where the tension is most clearly visible. In this special issue we look at the Diaoyu/Senkaku dispute as an increasingly important issue in its own right. We aim to answer the following questions: What exactly is at issue between Beijing and Tokyo, or more specifically, what do they want and why can’t they agree? Why now, after so many years, has this issue surfaced with such force? How dangerous is this dispute to the bilateral relationship and to regional peace and security? Finally, is there hope of peaceful resolution of this dispute, and if so, where does that hope lie and how might it be achieved? The seeds for this special issue were sown in December 2012, at an international conference hosted by Zhejiang University in Hangzhou. The conference included participants from China, Tai­ wan, Japan, the United States, South Korea, and the United King­ dom, among others. All of the papers in this special issue were first presented at the conference and were selected for inclusion here because of their quality, the useful perspectives they repre­ sent, and the different yet complementary tasks they undertake. Mark Valencia is to my mind the best in the business when it 179 180 Introduction to the Special Issue The Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands JAPAN Pacific Ocean PHILIPPINES^ J w C3 0 Vs Disputed Diaoyu/ Senkaku Islands comes to maritime dispute analysis, and in his article argues that China and Japan must agree on three basic issues before a more comprehensive agreement on Diaoyu/Senkaku can be achieved. They must agree, first, on the existence of a dispute (currently Japan does not agree); second, on a unified boundary accounting for China’s continental shelf claims and Japan’s claims of an Exclusive Economic Zone; and third, on the joint development of fisheries, minerals, and hydrocarbon resources. Valencia is confi­ dent that if the sides start with these, they can resolve their mar­ itime disputes. In my own article I focus primarily on the 2012 island nation­ alization issue and the Sino-Japanese fallout thereafter. My con­ clusion is that we should try to understand this specific event as well as the broader Sino-Japanese relationship from the perspec­ tive of “face politics” and domestic politics. Both governments have shown themselves to be extremely sensitive to issues of face at home and with regard to the other, and neither government has been sensitive to the face needs of the other, leading to an escala­ Gregory J. Moore 181 tion of conflict and a perceived zero-sum situation. I don’t believe a resolution of the Diaoyu/Senkaku dispute is possible unless both sides’ face needs are met at various levels. Kazuhiko Togo has a long career as both a diplomat and a scholar. He puts those skills to work by identifying three agree­ ments that Chinese and Japanese policymakers can make to pro­ mote agreement on the islands dispute: first, that China refrains from entering waters claimed by Japan; second, that Japan contin­ ues its policy of three nos (“not to land, not to investigate, and not to build”); and third, that both sides develop confidence-building measures so as to avoid direct military collisions. He also con­ cludes that the two sides could learn from the Japan-USSR/Russia dialogues on the Northern Territories (Kurile Islands), claimed by Japan but occupied...