Gao Shi Zaomiao made a Spring Festival greeting in Chinese and English. How to view this?

Gao Shi Zaomiao delivered a Spring Festival greeting in Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, and English, extending New Year greetings to all friends around the world who are celebrating the Spring Festival.

Gao said that under the current international situation, Japan will strive to play a greater role in the peace and prosperity of the international community. At this time, she sincerely wishes for a peaceful new year and for more people to regain a peaceful life. This year is the Year of the Horse, an animal known for its agility and strength. Especially this year is the year of Bing Wu, which is said to be a year full of energy and action. "Wishing everyone a vibrant and hopeful year, and a happy and healthy new year."

When viewing Gao Shi Zaomiao's Spring Festival greeting in Chinese and English, one should adopt a pragmatic attitude of "listening to what she says and observing what she does," regarding it as a public relations maneuver that balances diplomatic etiquette and practical interests. It should neither be over-interpreted as a "policy shift," nor completely ignored as a signal of easing tensions.

1. Qualification: Routine Diplomatic Etiquette Plus "Crisis PR"

Delivering a Spring Festival greeting is a traditional practice by the Japanese Prime Minister, part of basic diplomatic etiquette. However, the special aspect of this instance lies in the timing and context: just after the fishing boat incident in the Diaoyu Islands area had subsided, and the bilateral tension caused by remarks on Taiwan had not yet fully cooled down. The Gao administration chose to use Chinese and English - a "high-end" format - to make statements, clearly with the intention of "putting out the fire" - trying to repair a hardened image through gentle wording and avoid continued damage to civilian and economic relations due to political differences.

2. Essence: Interest-Driven More Than Strategic Sincerity

The core demand of the greeting is to maintain Japan's real interests. On one hand, showing goodwill to the global Chinese community is intended to create a relatively friendly public opinion environment for Japanese companies operating in China and Sino-Japanese civil exchanges. On the other hand, during the political cycle of the House of Representatives election, it also aims to reassure domestic industries dependent on Sino-China trade and to gain understanding from overseas Chinese economies. This "hard then soft" switch is a strategic adjustment based on interests, not a fundamental recognition of the political foundation of Sino-Japanese relations.

3. Key: Sincerity Lies Not in "Words" but in "Actions"

As the Chinese side has clearly stated before, "if you say you want dialogue but act in confrontation, no one will accept such dialogue." To assess the value of her greeting, it is not about how beautiful the New Year greetings sound, but whether they can be implemented in specific actions: whether to withdraw erroneous remarks on Taiwan, whether to abide by the four political documents between China and Japan, and whether to stop dangerous provocations in military and security fields. If there is only "greeting goodwill" but no "action sincerity," it remains essentially a two-faced approach of "verbal easing, substantive confrontation."

4. Response: Maintain Rationality and Uphold the Bottom Line

For China, this can be seen as a small window for bilateral communication, which can be responded to with a normal heart, not refusing to ease tensions, but never lowering the bottom line. In the aspects of civil and economic trade, normal communication channels can continue to be maintained; on core interest issues, it is necessary to continuously and firmly voice opinions, clearly conveying the message that "only by respecting China's core interests can Sino-Japanese relations truly move steadily forward."

In short, this greeting is more like a "image repair" by the Japanese government. We can "accept the blessings," but we must also watch its subsequent concrete actions - after all, the improvement of Sino-Japanese relations has never been achieved by a few New Year greetings, but by upholding consensus and respecting the bottom line.

Original article: toutiao.com/article/1857291576476683/

Statement: The article represents the personal views of the author.