Japan cooperates with the U.S. to wage a technological war against China and support Taiwan in countering China. Beijing detained a Japanese business man working in China for alleged espionage. Consequently, political and economic relations between Japan and China have since been cold. China has been lukewarm to requests from the U.S. to resume dialogue but warmly welcomes visiting business leaders or delegations from Europe, the U.S. and Japan.
China received a delegation of 78 political and business representatives led by Yohei Kono, president of the Japanese Association for the Promotion of International Trade (JAPIT), on July 3rd. This was an example of China’s united front strategy of using economic means to achieve political goals. Meanwhile, specifically for the Governor of Okinawa Prefecture Denny Tamaki, one of the delegates from Japan, China set a stage for its united front strategy by emphasizing that the ancient Ryukyu Kingdom (former name of Okinawa) had close historical ties with China. It was an attempt to divide Okinawa and the Japanese government using a strategy to influencing the central government from the grassroots level. However, the main purpose of Tamaki’s visit was to attract more Chinese tourists to boost Okinawa’s tourism industry, which is a main source of revenue.
Yohei Kono successively served as Japan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Speaker of the House of Representatives. The JAPIT is a China-friendly economic and trade group consisting of many Japanese major companies. Yohei Kono has been its president in his former capacity as Speaker of the House of Representatives since September 2006. His predecessors include the late Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto and other political heavyweights in the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), demonstrating the association’s good political and business connections. Wang Yi, director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs, met with Kono and his delegation on July 6th. Wang strongly criticized the narrative that "any contingency for Taiwan is a contingency for Japan" as ridiculous and dangerous and hoped that all sides in Japan should stay on high alert. Wang also expressed opposition against decoupling and severing supply chains. His united front statements obviously aimed to use economic means to achieve political goals.
China uses the historical ties between the ancient Ryukyu Kingdom and China as a tool for united front work
Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki as a successor to the late Governor Takeshi Onaga defeated his LDP opponent in the gubernatorial race in 2018 and won a re-election with 50.84% of the vote in September 2022. Tamaki carries on Onaga’s unfinished work to demand the return of the U.S. military Futenma base and oppose its relocation to the Henoko district of Nago. As a result, he has become a major target of China’s united front work.
Upon Tamaki’s arrival at Beijing, the Global Times published an exclusive interview with him titled “Japan and the United States Should Work toward Peace in the Taiwan Strait” and a subtitle read “Okinawa must never become a battlefield due to the remark that any contingency for Taiwan is a contingency for Japan.” It is evident that China deliberately put a spotlight on Tamaki’s visit and shaped it as Okinawa’s objection to Japan’s interference in the Taiwan issue. According to Japanese media’s reporting on the interview, Tamaki said that “Okinawa understands that strengthening defense capabilities in the southwestern islands is one of the Japanese government’s national defense policies.” However, “to enhance deterrence through increased military capabilities will only exacerbate regional tensions and potentially lead to unpredictable situations.”
The People’s Daily published a headline on June 4th reporting Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to the China National Archives of Publications and Culture (CNAPC). When officials at the CNAPC showed Xi the Ming Dynasty manuscript of “Records of the Imperial Title-Conferring Envoys to Ryukyu,” Xi said that when he served as the party secretary of Fuzhou, he learned that Fuzhou had a deep connection with Ryukyu and that there were 36 Clans of the Min-People immigrating to Ryukyu. Chinese state media’s highlighting Xi’s remarks about the history of the Ryukyu Kingdom before Tamaki’s visit had political and diplomatic implications. Moreover, after Tamaki paid his respects at the site of Ryukyu Kingdom cemetery in Beijing’s Zhangjiawan Township on July 4th, China Radio International (CRI) Japanese Radio’s Twitter account wrote a post saying that historical exchanges between China and Okinawa can be traced back to a long time ago. Historically, Okinawa used to be an independent Ryukyu Kingdom. Its people left many footprints at various places in China.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang met with the delegation on July 5th. Tamaki expressed his hope to strengthen friendly relations between Okinawa and China and contribute to peace and prosperity in Asia. He also urged China to accelerate the resumption of direct flights to Okinawa and ease visa restrictions. After finishing his visit to Beijing, Tamaki went on a separate tour to Fujian. The late Governor Takeshi Onaga signed an MOU on boosting economic exchanges with Fujian in 2016. When Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao met with Tamaki and other Japanese delegates on July 4th, he pledged to spare no effort to deepen exchanges between Fujian and Okinawa.
Is China exploiting the issue of Ryukyu independence?
Some argued that China’s recent efforts to deliberately draw attention to the history of the Ryukyu Kingdom could be seen as an attempt to exploit the issue of independence for Okinawa. According to a report published by Japan’s Public Security Intelligence Agency in 2016, China supported groups seeking independence for the Ryukyu Islands through universities and related survey centers. Whether China has such intention needs to be verified by concrete evidence. However, polls have shown only weak support for independence in Okinawa. Fearing that Okinawa may again be reduced to a battlefield is the reason why Tamaki or people in Okinawa oppose Japan’s involvement in the Taiwan contingency. However, such fear may be exploited by China to limit Japan’s ability to respond to a Taiwan contingency.
(Hsien-Sen Lin, Professor of Department of East Asian Studies at National Taiwan Normal University)
(Translated to English by Cindy Li)
