From The Los Angeles Times: Mutual economic ties have grown during years of tense relations, so leaders decide to put on a better face.
Anyone seeking signs that China and Japan are working hard to get their fraught relations back on track should consider this: After a four-year ban, the Chinese have agreed to resume eating Japanese rice.China cut off rice imports from Japan in 2003, ostensibly because Beijing had found insects in a shipment.
But the move smacked more of politics than health concerns, coming as the Asian powers were intensifying criticisms of each other that would strain political ties, spawn anti-Japanese riots in Chinese cities and fuel growing nationalist assertiveness in Japan.
Yet all the while, new ties were binding them. The booming Chinese economy was lifting Japan out of a recession it hadn’t been able to shake for 15 years. The Chinese were realizing that their best hope for cleaning up their foul air and toxic waters lay with Japanese technology.
And while the politicians were refusing to meet, Chinese and Japanese consumers were discovering a fondness for each other’s books and movies, electronic games and pop songs. [Full Text]
