From the Financial Times (link):
Japan’s relations with China are at a lower point than at any time since the two countries normalised relations in 1972 and they are getting worse. Leaders in Japan who argue otherwise are trying to fool the public, or they are fooling themselves.
The spiralling downward of political relations comes amid unprecedented growth in their economic relationship. Japan’s two-way trade with China now exceeds its trade with the US. But economic interests will not necessarily put a brake on deteriorating political relations. What Japanese refer to as “cold politics, hot economics” in their relations with China cannot be a permanent state of affairs. Sooner or later, political tensions will have adverse economic consequences.
The question is whether the two countries can construct a relationship in which they accommodate each other’s power or whether they move down a road to increasing tension.
