FOCUS: China moves toward reconciliation with Japan, but gap remains

BEIJING, Oct. 1 Kyodo - China's release Thursday of three of four Japanese nationals who had been detained since last week amid a diplomatic feud between Beijing and Tokyo represents yet another sign that China has begun mending soured ties with Japan.

''We hope Japan could make efforts to meet China half way and take concrete
steps to eliminate the negative impact on bilateral relations and prevent a
recurrence of similar incidents,'' Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said
Thursday.
She was referring to a row stemming from Japan's arrest of a Chinese fishing
boat captain whose trawler collided with Japan Coast Guard ships on Sept. 7
near the disputed Senkaku Islands.
Signaling a departure from a hard-line approach, Jiang did not touch on the
''apology and compensation'' which Beijing had earlier demanded from Tokyo for
the incident.
Japan had earlier turned down the demands, and despite Japan's release of the
captain on Saturday, the two countries remained locked in their worst
diplomatic row for years.
China's detainment of the four Japanese, employees of construction company
Fujita Corp., has been widely viewed as a means of forcing the release of the
captain.
Japanese officials are now paying close attention to China's next move, in
particular when it will free the remaining Japanese detainee and how it will
lift retaliatory measures it took in response to Japan's arrest of the skipper.
Retaliatory steps included canceling ministerial and higher-level exchanges,
discouraging tourists from visiting Japan and suspending bilateral talks on the
joint development of a gas field in the East China Sea.
Since Japan freed the skipper, Beijing has been waiting for the right timing to
gradually lower ''the fist of anger'' that Chinese leaders raised high in the
air, according to Japan-China diplomatic sources.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said on Sept. 21 that Beijing was forced to take
strong countermeasures against Japan because it turned a deaf ear to Beijing's
repeated protests to what it said was the ''illegal'' arrest and detention of
the skipper.
''It would take some time for China to lower the fist Premier Wen raised,''
while closely watching domestic sentiment and reactions from Japan and other
countries such as the United States, one source said.
China criticized Japan for arresting the skipper and sending him to prosecutors
in accordance with domestic law because Beijing claims that the
Japanese-administered islets, which it calls Diaoyu, have been Chinese
territory since ancient times.
However, China's demand for an apology and compensation even after the ship
captain returned home has drawn resentment from Japan and serious concern from
several Southeast Asian countries that have territorial disputes with Beijing
in the South China Sea.
''It caused enormous damage to China's 'soft power' credentials because this
concern will be particularly felt in Southeast Asian countries in light of
their disputes with China over the South China Sea,'' a senior Western diplomat
in Beijing said.
''But even though China got what it wanted, which is the safe return of the
captain, it gave many countries real cause for concern about China's strategic
aspiration,'' the diplomat said, requesting anonymity.
A potential intervention by the United States in the Japan-China row -- and the
disputes in the South China Sea -- may also have prompted China to show
conciliatory gestures toward Japan, including the lifting of a de facto embargo
on exports of rare earth minerals, which are vital to manufacturing hybrid
vehicles and other high-tech products.
Despite the release of the three Japanese nationals, it is yet uncertain
whether Wen will meet with Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan on the sidelines
of a two-day Asia-Europe summit starting Monday in Brussels, which, if
realized, would mark a starting point in reversing the strained ties.
Sources familiar with Japan-China relations said that while China recognizes it
would be difficult to actually make the islands its territory, Beijing's goal
is to make Japan say it has a territorial dispute with China over the islets.
Japan has maintained that the Senkaku Islands are integral part of Japanese
territory, and that no territorial dispute exists between the two countries.
Analysts said the gap between Tokyo and Beijing over the islands is so wide
that the two countries should avoid breaking the status quo and instead further
increase cooperation in the economic, cultural and grass-roots areas to boost
confidence.
''It would take a long time to address the Diaoyu issue. It would be best for
the two sides to shelve disputes and shift their focus to advancing economic
cooperation,'' said Zhou Yongsheng, a professor of Japanese studies at China
Foreign Affairs University.
''China and Japan cannot afford to slow the economic integration process in
East Asia,'' Zhou said.
Zhou predicts that if the two countries manage bilateral ties from a broader
context, relations will probably return to the pre-ship collisions level by the
time Chinese President Hu Jintao visits Japan in November for a summit of the
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.
==Kyodo