Sino-Japanese ties have seen many ups and downs over the past 70 years, from isolation to overall engagement and peaceful cooperation. Through all the vicissitudes, they have come to realize that if stability is ensured, they can drive not only the Asia-Pacific but also the global growth story.

Right after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, China and Japan, remained politically isolated, maintaining no diplomatic ties for over 23 years. In September 1972, the Chinese and Japanese governments issued the Sino-Japanese Joint Statement, normalizing bilateral relations and opening a new chapter in ties.

Japan can't escape its wrongdoings, but the overall tone of Sino-Japanese ties has changed since the two nations normalized diplomatic relations and embarked on the new road of peaceful cooperation.

The far-reaching significance of the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan goes beyond the bilateral scope. It has also had a major impact on the Asia-Pacific region and the world at large. China and Japan concluded the Treaty of Peace and Friendship in August 1978, laying a political foundation for the comprehensive development of bilateral relations. This was one of the three major events that year that were of great historical significance, not only for China, but also the world. The others were the joint communique on the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States, and the launch of China's reform and opening-up.

Japan's offering of official development assistance to China meant a lot in the early stage of China's reform and opening-up.

With the end of the Cold War and the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the international community underwent dramatic changes in the 1990s. At the bilateral level, Japan became mired in its economic downturn, while China's policy of reform and opening-up saw it overtake Japan to be the world's second-largest economy in 2010.

A host of external and internal changes from the 1990s to the 21st century have posed new challenges to Sino-Japanese ties. Japan strengthened its alliance with the US, involved itself with Taiwan issues, its leadership visited the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Japan's war dead including those convicted of war crimes committed during its war of aggression, and it illegally "nationalized" China's Diaoyu Islands. These actions seriously hit strategic mutual trust and seriously tested China-Japan relations. However, against the backdrop of deepening globalization, common interests have taken center stage and the demand for cooperation has only increased, injecting powerful impetus on both sides to safeguard peaceful coexistence and expand bilateral multilateral cooperation.

Ever since Japan changed its attitude toward China's proposed Belt and Road Initiative in 2017, bilateral ties have showed signs of thawing. In May 2018, during Premier Li Keqiang's official visit to Japan, both sides arrived at a consensus on the cooperation in third-party markets under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative. In October, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited China and re-emphasized the significance of third-party market cooperation with a total of 52 projects signed worth $18 billion.

Third-party market cooperation will help to ease the vicious competition between the two countries. China and Japan have their own advantages in exploring third-party markets. For example, Japan has comparative advantages in technology, engineering management and operational experience in infrastructure construction, while China enjoys comparative advantages in terms of capital, cost, corporate decision-making and technologies in some special fields. Cooperation in this regard will not only bring more international capital to support Belt and Road projects, but also facilitate Japan's access to markets in Eurasia. Bilateral cooperation in third-party markets has a promising future and is expected to achieve multiple-win results.

Relations between people are the foundation of state-to-state relations. Cultural and people-to-people exchanges have played an increasingly important role in the interactions between China and Japan. The leaders of the two countries reached a 10-point consensus when they met ahead of the G20 Summit in Osaka in June. Both sides have stressed that they should continue to strengthen people-to-people exchanges. The number of tourists from the Chinese mainland visiting Japan reached 4.53 million in the first half of 2019, a year-on-year increase of 11.7 percent. The two countries are also due to launch a high-level consultation mechanism within this year.

Despite all the twists and turns, Sino-Japan ties have maintained an overall positive trend since they established diplomatic relations, and they have held firm to the bottom line of peaceful cooperation, which is in line with the fundamental long-term interests of both countries.

It goes without saying that China and Japan are beneficiaries of a stable regional and international environment. The two countries have broad space for cooperation in the proper handling of security problems. They should make joint efforts to strengthen communication and coordination on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue and work together to build a security mechanism in Northeast Asia.

To realize sustainable and steady development, the two countries should focus on the following:

First, both sides should look at bilateral relations as part of East Asian civilization.

Second, both sides should deepen mutual understanding, enhance strategic mutual trust and build constructive security relations and effectively manage their differences.

Third, both sides should promote pragmatic cooperation and lay a solid foundation for better China-Japan ties.

Fourth, both sides should shoulder their responsibilities as major powers, strengthen communication and coordination in regional and international affairs as well as rule-making.

By working together they can safeguard their mutual interests and promote regional peace and prosperity.

The author is the director of the Institute of Japanese Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

The author contributed this article to China Watch exclusively. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of China Watch.

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