EAI Fellows Program Working Paper Series No.1
This paper examines the increasing influence of various domestic factors such as academics, media, and public opinion on the China’s Japan policy in the last decade within the context of newly developed internet technology. The questions raised in this study are: has there been an emergence of societal forces, independent of the Communist Party that have begun to exert influence over the foreign policy making process? If so, how are they affecting the ability of Chinese government to frame and implement foreign policy? It argues that due to the opening up policy and the fast development of information technology, China"s hierarchical, elite-driven foreign policy making structure has experienced profound changes which are characterized as pluralization, professionalization and institutionalization. These changes have created opportunities for societal forces to influence the decision making process, which is best reflected in China’s recent policy toward Japan.
Yufan Hao is Professor of Political Sciences at Colgate University. He obtained his MA and PhD from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in 1984 and 1989 respectively and was a McArthur Fellow at Harvard University Center for International Affairs 1988-1989. He was a visiting professor to Peking University, Tsinghua University, and Renmin University of China. His latest books include Chinese Foreign Policy Making: Societal Forces in Chinese American Policy Making, (Ashgate, London, co-edited, 2005); Bush’s Dilemma: Experts on the Possible Trend of American Foreign Policy (Shishi, Beijing, co-edited, 2005); Power of the Moment: American and the World after 9/11 (Xinhua, Beijing, co-authored, 2002), White House China Decision (Renmin Press, Beijing, 2002). Currently he serves as the Dean of Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at University of Macau.
The spring of 2005 witnessed quite turbulent in China-Japan relations. Along with the issues of Security Council bid, the history textbook, and the gas exploration in disputed waters, Japan claimed on the Chinese Lunar New Year that the Senkaku Islands were officially Japanese. In February, Japan and the US declared a closer military bond. After another visit by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, where convicted Class-A war criminals are honored along with other Japanese war dead, the bilateral relations plunged to their lowest point since 1972, with a nationwide anti-Japanese riots erupting in China. Angry Chinese protesters marched on the Japanese Embassy in Beijing, throwing eggs and rocks to protest against school textbooks they say whitewash Japanese wartime atrocities in China, against Tokyo’s bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, and against Koizumi’s visit to Yasukuni Shrine. After a week of violent protests against Japan in Beijing, thousands of protesters marched on the Japanese consulate in Shanghai, smashing its windows with rocks, pelting it with paint bombs and attacking Japanese restaurants along the way. Protest spread to several large cities in the south, as Chinese massed outside Japanese stores and consulates, calling for a boycott of Japanese products and demanding that Japan own up to war crimes of 60 years ago. The rising anti-Japanese sentiments within Chinese society have made it difficult for Beijing leadership when making their policy towards Tokyo. Chinese government became increasingly tough towards Tokyo and publicly registered its objection to Japan’s bid to UN Security Council. Meanwhile, Chinese government began to clamp down harder to keep the capital peaceful before Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura’s visit. University students were warned by email not to protest. Top anti-Japanese activists in Beijing were rounded up to prevent further protests. China even began to control media coverage of Sino-Japanese relations and had cancelled a few academic conferences and workshops related to Japan.
|