Li Rong, Visiting Scholar ‘06

On China’s online forums, international relationships are usually the hottest topic with the most discussion. Always China-US and China-Japan relations attract the most attention and generate the greatest response. Many postings include drastic words. Two parties with opposite opinions will not only express their own points of view but also accuse each other with curses.

Angry netizens in China are holding high the flag of nationalism and voicing dissatisfaction about the US and Japan with numerous irrational words. They believe they are right and just. This is a dangerous signal.
Disputes about China and the US focus on whether the US is China’s friend or enemy. The dispute has been in existence for many years but it culminated in 2001 after “9/11,” when the question had two extreme answers. In the face of the World Trade Center tragedy, angry youths shouted “cool,” “well done,” “the US was destined to take such a blow eventually.”

Their logic was that because “America uses force to impose its supremacy on the world,” at last “America has to reap as it has sown,” or “that’s the retribution for bombing our embassy in Yugoslavia.” Let me sum up these opinions into two primary conceptions. One is that “the US isn’t kind”; the other is that “the US isn’t kind to China.”

Meanwhile the voices of those with contrary opinions were probably louder than the cynical nationalistic voices. Those with an opposing viewpoint agreed with most world opinion.

Based on humanism, they condemned terrorism and mourned the victims of 9/11. The volume of those opinions was overwhelming but the angry opinions were still very sharp. That made them conspicuous and impressive in online forums.

Another vulnerable bilateral relationship is between China and Japan. In China the overwhelming sentiments toward Japan are distrust and hostility. Rational voices urging a friendly relationship between China and Japan are few. This consequence is related to Japan’s former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s repeated visits to the Yasukuni shrine during his five-year tenure.

Koizumi’s actions raised strong disgust in China and other East Asian countries. But with every issue that involves Japan, we often see discussions on online forums that readily tend to debase Japan, such as the proposal to “reject Japanese goods.”

One typical case of anti-Japan sentiment presented itself at the final game of the Asian Cup in August 2004, when China’s national soccer team was defeated by Japan. The hostile sentiment lasted until the beginning of May 2005, the Chinese Labor Day holiday. In this golden week holiday when people usually busy themselves shopping, anti-Japan demonstrations were launched in several big cities. Moreover, the dispute over sovereignty of the Diaoyu (Senkaku) islands happens every year, providing another focus for the online anti-Japan drama.

The history of wars between China and Japan dating to the mid-19th century serve as background to the anti-Japanese sentiment in China’s online forums. Historically, Japan was China’s student, but in the process of modernization, Japan’s social development level and economic strength surpassed China’s.

More importantly, Japan launched brutal acts of aggression against China during World War II, with Japan’s occupation lasting eight years. The Chinese people had complex feelings when they faced Japan after establishing diplomatic relations in the 1970s.

There are some untouchable problems between China and Japan, and one of them is the Nanjing Massacre in 1937 when thousands were brutally killed. 70 years later, neither side can discuss it calmly.

The Yasukuni shrine is another one. Shinzo Abe, who recently succeeded Koizumi as Japan’s Prime Minister, is expected to resolve this impasse. But when he made a visit to China and South Korea soon after his election in October, he made no public commitment to refrain from visits to the shrine. Due to the lack of a sensible consensus between China and Japan over these troubling issues, we still do not see the signs of reconciliation.

Why so many netizens hold simple, naive and often baseless opinions about Japan is largely due to China’s mass media, which strongly influence public opinion. For example, Japan is the biggest donor country to China, although this is seldom mentioned in the public media. And actually, the right-wing textbooks that triggered mass demonstrations in China were only used in 0.4 percent of Japanese schools in 2005. But this percentage is also seldom mentioned.

The media easily influence people, especially young people, who learn about history and contemporary reality mostly from propaganda and widespread public opinion. If history textbooks are not objective and if the media just report selective information about a bilateral relationship, people will be filled with extreme viewpoints. This truth will inevitably affect the young generation, whether in China, Japan or other countries.

Opinions will always be distorted if people only receive partial information.
And those who receive misleading historical facts can’t constitute a strong, righteous, responsible, and grand country. A peaceful and stable international system requires balanced views and tempered international relationships.

It is a dangerous signal when extreme and blind emotions occur. My suggestion is that we should pay much attention to this signal from angry netizens and bravely confront reality. We should make a great effort to improve China’s textbooks and its media, and get rid of the emotional burden of feeling like war victims since 1840. Then we can confidently embrace the future.