Japan-China Relations and Overexposure to the Media | Tomoyuki Kojima (Dean of the Faculty of Policy Management)
2005.06.09
Since April, it has been one hectic day after another. This is because anti-Japanese demonstrations broke out every weekend in China, the subject of my research. With each passing weekend, the protests spread to various regions, growing in scale and becoming more radical. Protestors swarmed the Japanese Embassy in Beijing and the consulates-general in Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenyang, with some incidents of destructive acts like stone-throwing. The situation has reached a point of concern that Japan-China relations, often described as "cold politics, hot economics" (cool political relations but hot economic relations), might deteriorate further overall.
China is a neighboring country, and with its recent remarkable economic development, its relationship with Japan is important not only economically but also in terms of politics and security. As a result, the Japanese media has a strong interest in China. When issues arise concerning China or Japan-China relations, I receive interview requests from media outlets such as newspapers, television, and radio. In the past, I would typically decline requests to appear on infotainment shows, primarily accepting interviews with public broadcasters.
This time, however, I had my reasons and decided to accept as many interview requests as my schedule would allow from television, radio, newspapers, and weekly magazines. One day, I shuttled back and forth between my Dean's office and a conference room at SFC, recording interviews for six programs from four different television stations in a single day, while also making several live radio appearances in between. I even appeared live on a morning infotainment show. On April 17, the day of the election for President, I appeared live on NHK's "Sunday Debate" before heading to Mita Campus, then recorded a program for TV Asahi, and after the election for President concluded, I returned to NHK for another live appearance on "Kaigai Network."
My "reasons" were twofold. First, I was utterly disheartened by the woefully poor understanding of China and the indifference toward East Asia among Japan's top leaders. Second, I was disappointed by the extremely biased image of China portrayed by the Japanese media, which conveyed the impression that China is a monolithic entity flawlessly executing a logically coherent strategy toward Japan. Feeling a sense of responsibility from my involvement not only in research on Chinese issues and Japan-China relations but also, to a small extent, in policy support, I decided to respond properly this time. I resolved to appear in the media as much as possible to repeatedly convey the message that the very cause of Japan's policy failures is the absence of a diplomatic strategy toward East Asia, including China, on the part of the Japanese government, and that the Chinese regime is by no means monolithic, does not possess a logical diplomatic strategy, and does not make policy decisions with clear objectives.
Two months have passed since April, and I am filled with a growing sense of futility. However, as a faculty member of the Faculty of Policy Management, which attempts to "identify and solve problems" through empirical experiments, I cannot allow myself to be defeated by this feeling. I must continue to rouse my spirits and do everything I can to work toward the stability of Japan-China relations.
(Date of publication: 2005/06/09)