At a time of rising political tensions, heightened by a growing nationalism, China and Japan are more intertwined economically than they have ever been. In their breadth and intensity, the ties have begun to surpass those between the United States and Japan, whose economic relationship has often been called the most important in the world.
The ties offer a counterpoint to rapidly deteriorating diplomatic relations, which reached another low point on Oct. 17 when Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan visited the Yasukuni Shrine, the nationalist memorial to Japan’s war dead, and China immediately called off high-level talks.
Tensions will probably keep rising with Asia’s transformation: China, which had lost its historical role as the region’s economic and political leader to Japan in the last century and a half, is hungry to reclaim it.
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