Nonaka remarks riled the Senkaku waters

BEIJING — A recent statement in Beijing by a former chief Cabinet secretary has emerged as a focal issue that could greatly affect tensions between Japan and China over the contested ownership of the Senkaku Islands.

During his meeting in early June with Liu Yunshan, the fifth-ranked member of the Chinese Communist Party and a member of its Political Bureau Standing Committee, Hiromu Nonaka, 88, said Japanese and Chinese leaders had agreed to shelve the territorial dispute when they normalized diplomatic relations in September 1972.

On June 4, the day after Nonaka’s meeting with Liu, Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida denied there had been any bilateral agreement to shelve the thorny dispute, saying “there is no such fact in our country’s diplomatic records” regarding the Japanese-administered but China-claimed Senkakus.

Yet a senior official of the Chinese government said it has a diplomatic document testifying to such an accord between Tokyo and Beijing.

The statement by Nonaka was based on what Kakuei Tanaka, prime minister at the time of the alleged agreement, said in a report to members of his faction in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party after diplomatic ties were normalized. Nonaka was a member of Tanaka’s intraparty group.

According to Nonaka, who served as chief Cabinet secretary in the late 1990s, Tanaka told them that as negotiations on the normalization of diplomatic relations entered the final stretch, he had approached Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai and informed him he would like to discuss “that issue,” referring to the Senkakus.

The ownership of the uninhabited islet cluster, which China calls Diaoyu, started to become a flash point in Sino-Japanese relations after China laid claim to them in 1971. Japan had taken control of the islets in 1895.

Zhou, who wanted to normalize diplomatic ties between Japan and China as an urgent priority, replied that the meeting between the Japanese and Chinese leaders would go nowhere if they took up the Senkakus issue because the discussions would drag on interminably, Nonaka quoted Tanaka as saying.

Masayoshi Ohira, who also attended the meeting as foreign minister, then suggested that Tanaka had made the proposal just so he could say the territorial issue had been discussed if he was asked about it by right-wing activists upon his return home.

Eventually, Tanaka and Zhou agreed that the two sides should put the matter on the back burner to “keep the waves gentle” until they could start talks to settle the islets’ ownership at some future point.

Nonaka, who has promoted friendship between Japan and China, revealed the two leaders’ exchange at a news conference in Beijing after his meeting with Liu. “I would like to clarify what happened at that time as a surviving witness who heard about the situation,” Nonaka said.

He said he feels that shelving the issue, as envisioned by Zhou and his reform-minded successor, Deng Xiaoping, was the only way to avoid a bilateral confrontation over the Senkakus.

As Tokyo continues to officially maintain that there is no territorial dispute over the Senkakus, any recognition of an agreement with Beijing to shelve the problem could be seen as an admission of the problem.

On June 4, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga therefore assured reporters that “there are no facts that (Japan) agreed with China to shelve the issue.” The following day, Suga said he found it “very strange” that Nonaka had gone public about the issue “without offering any solid evidence.”

Tokyo’s stance on the Senkakus is based on diplomatic documents about the normalization of relations with China that have been released to the public. According to these documents, Tanaka told Zhou: “What do you think of the Senkaku Islands? Lots of people come to me and say various things (about the islets).”

“It isn’t good to discuss this now,” Zhou replied, adding the Senkakus “became a problem because oil is (contained)” in the surrounding seabed. “Neither Taiwan nor the United States would pay attention without (the presence of) oil” reserves, Zhou said.

The documents show no further discussions on the issue.

Following Japan’s purchase of three of the five largest islets in the Senkaku chain last September, the Oct. 12 edition of the Chinese People’s Daily ran a story on what it called a “core part” not cited in Japan’s diplomatic documents.

The Communist Party organ quoted Tanaka as saying after the talks on oil reserves: “All right, we don’t need to discuss any more now. Let’s do it again.”

“Let’s do it again,” Zhou reportedly responded. “Before other issues, this time we will resolve big and basic problems that can be resolved, such as the normalization of bilateral relations, which is the most pressing problem for us.”

This exchange between Tanaka and Zhou, which has been interpreted in some quarters as their agreement to shelve the problem and leave it for future generations to resolve, is based on a memoir by Zhang Xiangshan, an adviser to the Chinese Foreign Ministry at that time who was involved in the talks to normalize ties.

A number of Chinese government officials say Zhang’s records are held in diplomatic documents, but the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s archives office has yet to disclose copies of the original documents.

These documents “may be considered to have been doctored” unless the originals are made public, a Japanese government official said.

Kyodo News, June 04, 2013
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20130604p2g00m0dm043000c.html

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 Ex-senior White House official blasts Japan’s view on history

WASHINGTON (Kyodo) — A former senior U.S. government official criticized Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and other leaders Wednesday for their views on history with neighboring countries before and during World War II.

Jeffrey Bader, former senior adviser for Asian affairs of the National Security Council, also warned the U.S. government could be more “vocal” if Japan reviewed past statements in which the government formally apologized for wartime aggressions in other Asian countries.

“The handling of historical issues in the last couple of months by Japanese leaders has not been adroit, to put it mildly,” Bader told a symposium in Washington. He assumed the post in the first term of President Barack Obama.

Bader also mentioned Abe’s controversial remark earlier this year that the word “invasion” has no established definition in the context of Japan’s wartime rule over neighboring countries.

He also refereed to visits by some members of Abe’s Cabinet, including Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso, and more than 160 other parliamentarians, to Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine, which worships Class-A Japanese war criminals along with war dead.

The other Asian countries such as China and South Korea have reacted sharply to the remarks and events.

“This is the worst possible environment for a major debate” on Japan’s future security, Bader said.

Bader also blasted Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto, who came under fire after he said Japan’s wartime system of sexual servitude was necessary. Bader branded the remark “crazy.”

If Japan adheres to the past apology statements by the prime minister and the chief Cabinet secretary on the military aggression and the sex slavery, it would be fine, Bader said. "But if we see more of this...I think we’re going to have to become more vocal.

Kyodo News, June 13, 2013
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20130613p2g00m0dm078000c.html

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 Former top official says Japan agreed with China to shelve isle issue

BEIJING (Kyodo) — Hiromu Nonaka, a former chief Cabinet secretary of the Japanese government, said Monday that leaders from Japan and China had reached an agreement to shelve the Senkaku island dispute when the two countries normalized their relations in the early 1970s — an assertion contradicting an official stance of Tokyo.

Nonaka, who is leading a delegation of incumbent and former Japanese lawmakers now visiting China, told reporters, “Just after the normalization of relations, I was told clearly by then Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka that a decision was made on the normalization by shelving the Senkaku issue.”

“As a living witness, I would like to make clear (what I heard),” Nonaka said after meeting with Liu Yunshan, the fifth-ranked leader of the Communist Party of China, in Beijing.

In Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary reiterated the government’s view that the Senkakus are not an issue Japan should put on the shelf since no territorial dispute exists between Japan and China.

Liu is said to have told the Japanese delegation that Japan is responsible for the current confrontation with China. Apparently aiming to have Japan acknowledge at least the existence of a bilateral territorial dispute, Liu also reportedly said he hopes to see a solution reached through dialogues between the two governments.

Kyodo News, June 04, 2013
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20130604p2g00m0dm043000c.html

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 Japan denies having agreed with China to shelve islet row

TOKYO (Kyodo) — Japan has never agreed with China to shelve a dispute over the ownership of a group of islands in the East China Sea, the top government spokesman said Tuesday, denying a comment by one of his predecessors that such a deal was made decades ago.

“There is no truth (to the remark) that (Japan) agreed with China to shelve or maintain the status quo of the Senkaku Islands,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference, reiterating Tokyo’s position that no territorial dispute exists between the two countries.

Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida asserted that the uninhabited Japanese-controlled islands, claimed by China as Diaoyu, are an inherent part of Japan’s territory. “It is not the case that to this day, we have reached an agreement to shelve (the dispute), nor has there been a territorial dispute that should be shelved in the first place,” he told reporters.

Their comments came after Hiromu Nonaka, who was Japan’s top spokesman in 1998-1999, said in Beijing on Monday that Japanese and Chinese leaders reached an agreement to shelve the dispute when the two countries normalized their relations in 1972.

Kishida declined to directly comment on Nonaka’s remarks on the grounds that they were made in a private capacity, while Suga underscored that Nonaka has already left the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

Nonaka’s revelations come as Japan struggles to address strained ties with China over the islands, a deadlock that has also disturbed trade, and cultural and diplomatic exchanges between the two biggest economies in Asia.

Kyodo News, June 04, 2013
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20130604p2g00m0dm081000c.html

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 China party figure Liu hits Abe take on history

BEIJING — Senior Chinese Communist Party figure Liu Yunshan voiced displeasure with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s comments on historical recognition in a meeting earlier this week with former Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka, officials close to bilateral ties said.

Liu, the Communist Party’s fifth-ranked leader, was quoted as saying Abe “keeps acting and talking as if to rub salt into people’s wounds. It makes me wonder if militarism is being brought back.”

He made the remarks during a meeting Monday in Beijing with Nonaka, who is leading a delegation of current and former Diet lawmakers visiting China.

The comment marks the first time news has surfaced that Abe’s views on history have been criticized by a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau, the Communist Party’s most powerful committee, headed by General Secretary Xi Jinping.

It appears to reflect the strong dissatisfaction of President Xi’s leadership with Abe’s hawkish political beliefs, and indicates that an improvement in bilateral ties strained by the Senkaku isle dispute will likely not happen soon.

Apparently referring to Abe’s recent questioning of the word “invasion” and Osaka Mayor Toru Hahimoto’s comments justifying wartime sexual slavery, Liu said the words and actions of the Abe administration and Japanese politicians distort history.

Abe “says that he places value on ties with China, but his actions say otherwise,” Liu was quoted as saying.

Referring to remarks by China’s late paramount leader, Deng Xiaoping, illustrating the importance of friendly relations between China and Japan, Liu said: “Even now those words ring true. We want to solve the Diaoyu problem through dialogue between both governments, looking squarely at history.”

Kyodo News, June 6, 2013
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/06/06/national/china-party-figure-liu-hits-abe-take-on-history/#.Ubpk39juLRY

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