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WORLD> Analysis
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Japan Democrat win could warm China ties
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-08-27 14:45 China and other Asian governments see the shrine, which includes convicted war criminals among the honored dead, as a provocative symbol of Japan's often brutal occupation of the region before and during World War Two. Koizumi's successors have avoided visiting Yasukuni, and relations with Beijing have warmed. Democratic Party leader Yukio Hatoyama has said he would not visit Yasukuni while Japanese leaders convicted as war criminals are honored there. But the renewed goodwill has served to contain, rather than resolve, a dispute over natural gas beds under seas between the two countries. And in the background is Japan's deeper anxiety with China's growing economic, military and political muscle. If Japan wakes up on Monday morning with Hatoyama as prime minister-elect, those disputes and anxieties will remain a part of the regional landscape, said Sun, the Chinese professor. The Democrats' vows to work more closely with Japan's neighbors may even open the way for closer cooperation with Beijing on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and other regional troubles, said Huang Dahui, a professor of Japanese politics at Renmin University in Beijing. Hatoyama has also chided Japan's current prime minister, Taro Aso, for promoting "values" diplomacy, saying it is also important to build ties with nations that do not share values. "To consolidate power, the (Japanese) Democrats will need a stable foreign policy, especially with the US and China," said Liu, the Tsinghua professor. "Japan will focus on itself first."
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