Rites of passage

The Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer Sazanami will start its five-day port call to China tomorrow. It will be the first Japanese warship to anchor in China after the World War II.

Sazanami's stop at Zhanjiang, a port city in Guangdong province in South China, is a return visit after a Chinese navy missile destroyer's stop in Japan last year. Given Japan's invasion of China during World War II, the controversy over the presence of the Japanese navy destroyer in China, which was postponed by the earthquake in the country's Sichuan province, is understandable.

The dialogue between China and Japan over military and security issues has been lagging far behind other aspects of the bilateral relations. When the warm spring returned to the political relations between the two countries, high hopes were pinned on the two governments starting talks on the military issues, the last untouchable part of the bilateral ties.