TOKYO - Former Japanese Ambassador to China Hideo Tarumi, who created the concept of a "strategic and mutually beneficial" relationship for bilateral ties two decades ago, has urged Tokyo to refrain from relying too much on the slogan and focus more on risk management amid bilateral tensions.
Tarumi said in a recent interview with Kyodo News that the slogan has "lost substance," warning that "excessive mutual dependence" between the Asian neighbors could instead become a risk now that China is a major power that uses its economy as a means of pressure.
Thursday marked 20 years since then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and then Chinese President Hu Jintao agreed to build "a mutually beneficial relationship based on common strategic interests" during the Japanese leader's visit to Beijing.
In the run-up to the China trip, Abe tried to restore a relationship that had soured over his predecessor Junichiro Koizumi's repeated visits to the war-linked Yasukuni shrine, the former ambassador said.
Tarumi, then a senior Foreign Ministry official in charge of China-related intelligence analysis, said he came up with the idea of the "strategic" nature of bilateral relations, a term that had only been used to define Japan-U.S. ties, to prompt Beijing, which regarded Abe as a conservative hard-liner, to lower its guard.
Over the past 20 years, Beijing has eclipsed Tokyo as a major economic power. China's nominal gross domestic product, which was about 60 percent of Japan's in 2006, surpassed that of its neighbor in 2010 and is now more than four times larger.
For China, the importance of Japan has declined, the former envoy said. Since Xi Jinping became China's leader in 2012 and power was concentrated in his hands, Beijing has given more priority to ensuring national security rather than pursuing economic development, he added.
Currently, Sino-Japanese ties remain strained over Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's parliamentary remarks last November that suggested an attack on self-ruled Taiwan, which Beijing claims, could trigger a response from Japanese defense forces in support of the United States.
The remarks were made shortly after Takaichi and Xi reaffirmed their countries' shared policy of promoting a strategic and mutually beneficial relationship during their first summit talks held in October last year in South Korea on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
Infuriated by her comments, China has since unleashed a series of political and economic reprisals against Japan, including export restrictions on rare earths needed to manufacture various high-tech products.
Beijing implemented similar trade curbs on Japan-bound rare earths in 2010 following a collision between a Chinese fishing boat and Japan Coast Guard ships near the Tokyo-controlled Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, which China claims and calls Diaoyu.
Amid the latest diplomatic dispute, China has also stepped up its criticism of the Takaichi government's defense buildup policies, claiming in the international arena that "neo-militarism" is on the rise in her country.
At present, communication between two countries has become difficult, with no formal ministerial meetings set amid the diplomatic stalemate. Attention is focused on whether Takaichi and Xi will meet during an APEC summit in southern China's Shenzhen in November to mend ties.
"Rather than rushing to improve ties in the short term, we should use the current confrontation as an opportunity to rethink our strategy toward China," Tarumi said, advising against seeking to improve relations "within the existing framework and on the terms set by China."
Relying on "stopgap measures" to deal with the situation will result in "ceding the initiative" to China, he warned.
As specific risk management steps, Tarumi proposed Japan reduce its dependence on China by diversifying supply chains and export destinations, ensure the safety of Japanese nationals in China and build "multi-layered partnerships centered on the United States," involving Australia, India, Europe and Southeast Asian nations.
Through such efforts, Japan can avoid "a direct, one-on-one confrontation with China," said the 65-year-old former diplomat, who became a professor at Ritsumeikan University after serving as China envoy between 2020 and 2023.
He also said Japan should not simply follow U.S. policy toward China, pointing to the need to be mindful of potential future rapprochement between Washington and Beijing.
Tarumi stressed the need for Japan and China to maintain dialogue, but said their relationship "must not be one where only one side is expected to make adjustments."
"Rather than viewing the current period of stalemate with pessimism, Japan should use this time to make necessary preparations," he said.
