Op-Ed Contributors

Still a lot to learn from Japan

By Huang Dahui (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-08-30 07:53

How should China take its economic rise? A Chinese professor says it should learn from Japan's experience, while a senior Japanese consultant says it cannot avoid shouldering its additional global responsibilities.

China's economy has grown by leaps and bounds over the past three decades. It has overtaken France, Britain and then Germany in terms of GDP. There are now reports, unconfirmed though, that it has overtaken Japan to become the second-largest economy in the world. Japan's latest official data seems to confirm that: Japan's GDP in the second quarter of this year was $1.288 trillion compared with China's $1.339 trillion.

This is good news, for it means the efforts of generations of Chinese have not gone waste. But we should not be overjoyed with this achievement. China's GDP may have crossed Japan's, but its economy still has many deficiencies and needs structural progress. Because of its huge population its per capita GDP is reduced to one-tenth of Japan's. The unequal distribution of its national wealth is forcing many people to still live in poverty. And China still has a long way to go before it can transform itself into a real economic power.

Besides, the development could make Tokyo take new measures in its relation with Beijing.

This calls for a look into history. Three decades of reform and opening -up have created precious opportunities for the Japanese economy, and Japan has taken a positive attitude toward China's economic revival. Until the 1980s, Japan concentrated on competing with the United States and did not even dream that China could become an economic rival. That was also a period without the "China threat" theory.

But after its asset bubble burst, Japan realized the huge gap between itself and the "world champion", the US. So, in the 1990s, it concentrated on keeping its "Asia champion" crown intact. It was then that the "China threat' theory began to be bandied about by some countries.

The present times are different from both those periods. Many Japanese have expressed fears and doubts, but generally Tokyo still holds a positive view of Beijing's economic strength. In other words, most Japanese tend to consider China's economic growth beneficial instead of detrimental to their country. They expect to derive more benefits from the two countries' simultaneous prosperity. Such people will not consider a rising China a threat.

The Japan-China War of 1894 defined the relations between the two countries for a long time, giving Japan a sense of advantage over China. But the situation has changed since China launched its reform and opening-up. Hence, Japan is expected to change its view about its rising neighbor. In fact, the economic rise of China has added positive elements to the two countries' relations. After all, equality is the best promoter of cooperation.

Of course, it would take time for Japan to accept the rise of China. It would not only require lots of efforts on the part of Japan, but also ample patience from China. China should not boast about its economic power. It has to have friendly, mutually beneficial and equal relationships with every country.

As the first modernized country in Asia, Japan now matches its Western counterparts in many fields. It rose from the rubbles of World War II to build a modern country. Its rise has long been the example for non-Western countries to follow.

China, too, has learned from Japan's experiences. After the key changes of 1978, China studied its neighbors' growth models. In fact, many key definitions and decisions during that period were made after learning from Japan. Even the term "Chinese model in modernization" was raised by Deng Xiaoping while talking with Japanese guests.

I think China, despite its economic progress, still has much to learn from Japan.

It has to raise the quality of its economic development and people's living standards.

There is still a big gap between its achievements and that of Japan in many fields such as technology, environmental protection and education. In these critical times of economic shifts and transformations, China has much to learn from developed countries, and Japan is a good example.

An ancient Chinese proverb goes: "Modesty makes progress while arrogance hinders the way forward." And the teachings of the ancient wise men are still worthy enough to be followed.

The author is a professor at the School of International Studies, Renmin University of China.