The US-China Summit Meeting was an opportunity to appeal that the world is run by two big countries, the US and China. Although the details of the meeting have not yet been disclosed, China’s desire to incorporate Taiwan became even more apparent after the meeting. It must be beneficial for China’s economy.

China and Japan are historically and culturally close

China and Japan are historically and culturally deeply connected. However, due to political reasons, China is a distant country for us.

Why does China take an unfavorable attitude towards Japan?

There are several things that have deterred a better relationship between the two countries.

1. When Japan released the treated water from the Fukushima Nuclear site to the sea, after the safety of the seafood was scientifically proved, China banned the import of Japanese seafood, stressing the danger of “nuclear contaminated water”.
2. At school, even now, China teaches children that Japan invaded China and occupied the land during WWII to brainwash children to learn how badly we behaved.
3. China always complains when the Japanese prime minister visits the Yasukuni Shrine, where war victims, including Class-A war criminals, are enshrined. It is the place we play for the people who devoted their lives to the country. However, China complains that worshipping at Yasukuni means that Japan justifies the war crimes.
4. China has always opposed Japan’s becoming a Permanent member of the UN Security Council.
5. We are well aware that Japan provided significant technical support to China, and that, in the end, all this technical knowledge was transferred to China. As a result, China has grown into a powerhouse, and Japan’s power has declined.
6. Many high-end condominiums and resort apartments are bought by wealthy Chinese as investments.

These are just a small part of them.

At first glance, you may understand how the Japanese feel about the Chinese government and its people. Please note that I have several Chinese friends, and they are friendly and nice people. My father studied in China and was fluent in Chinese, and he respected the Chinese people all his life.

How do the Chinese people think about Japan?

According to a 2024 survey conducted by Japan’s non-profit organization, “Genron NPO,” and China’s International Transmission Group, 87.7% of Chinese are not favorable toward Japan, up 24.8 points YoY.

We note that China has strong information control, and many people get information about Japan through SNS, such as Weibo and Douyin, a Chinese version of TikTok. This information could have influenced the Chinese view of Japan.

Many people in both countries have few mutual friends and know little about the others. Therefore, China remains stuck in the past and lacks a forward-looking vision. We are both Asians with a shared cultural and historical background. Due to political reasons, both countries lack mutual communication to learn from each other, and suspicion and paranoia spread.

For the next generation, we need to pay more attention to our neighboring country.