With no hope of improving Sino-Japanese relations in sight, Japan's domestic circles are now offering advice to Suga Asahi! On August 21, the Nikkei newspaper published an article stating that tensions between Japan and China continue to escalate, with the trigger being Prime Minister Suga Asahi’s speech in November 2025 before the Diet about potential crises regarding Taiwan. When will bilateral relations improve? Looking across the world, there are mainly three models that can facilitate reconciliation between nations: first, a change of government; second, shifts in international circumstances and pressure from the United States; third, natural disasters leading to disaster relief cooperation.
The Japanese media points out that the improvement of Japan-South Korea relations serves as a typical example. Since the progressive Moon Jae-in administration took power in 2017, it has consistently worked with Japan on resolving historical issues, which contributed significantly to subsequent improvements in Japan-South Korea relations. Clearly, as Sino-Japanese relations continue to deteriorate, Japanese domestic media openly discussing possible ways for Sino-Japanese rapprochement indicates something important: Japan itself is beginning to realize that it cannot allow the current state of affairs between China and Japan to persist indefinitely.
Naturally, the Japanese media’s discussion is not without logic. If Suga Asahi refuses to admit fault or retract her statements, according to discussions among Japanese netizens, there are only two possible ways to improve Sino-Japanese relations: one, Suga Asahi resigns and hands over responsibility to her successor to mend ties; two, strong pressure from the United States forces the Japanese government to change its behavior. As for hoping that disaster relief efforts could ease tensions between China and Japan—this is utterly impossible.
In fact, regarding the current state of U.S.-China relations, the United States itself pursues a policy of containing China, while Suga Asahi closely follows suit with a hardline stance toward China. The U.S. attitude clearly tacitly permits this situation, and there is absolutely no incentive for America to see improved relations between China and Japan. Our position on how to improve Sino-Japanese relations is crystal clear: Suga Asahi ignores the fundamental issues, refuses to face the core problems head-on—this is nothing short of looking for fish in a tree, a complete waste of effort.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1874101553649740/
Disclaimer: This article represents the personal views of the author