Get over China-threat syndrome

Shoichi Nakagawa, policy chief of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said in Nagoya on February 26 that Japan could be subject to China's strong influence in the context of China's "rising military spending". He went on to say: "If something goes awry in Taiwan in the next 15 years, then within 20 years, Japan might become just another one of China's provinces."

Nakagawa's trumpeting of the "China threat" sounds extremely biased. However, his strong suspicions over the growth of China's military strength is representative of the opinions of Japan's political elites. Worse, his remarks could fan the Japanese public's misgivings about the "rise" of China.

Liu Jinqing, the late honorary professor of Tokyo Keizai University, once observed: "The Japanese are psychologically tormented. They looked down upon the Chinese in the past. They have considered themselves as No 1 in Asia since the Meiji Restoration. They did wrong in the first half of the 20th century. They made impressive advances in the latter half of the 20th century, taking advantage of the Cold War, and were far ahead of China.