Editor's note: Xu Chuanbo is a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Areas Studies at Peking University. The article reflects the author's opinions, and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

Whenever July 7 approaches, the topic of Sino-Japanese relations will arouse the attention of the world. Eighty-three years ago, Japan launched its aggression against China, and the United States supported China in its fight against Japan. Today, trade frictions have made Sino-U.S. relations increasingly tense, while Japan has remained friendly to China. Although this cannot cover up the contradiction between China and Japan, it does improve Sino-Japanese relations.

After the COVID-19 outbreak, Japan quickly launched anti-epidemic assistance to meet China's needs. At the end of January, the Japanese government donated materials such as masks, protective clothing and goggles from all over Japan to Wuhan. Local governments such as Tokyo and Kumamoto donated their emergency reserves to China. Ordinary Japanese people also left messages on the social media homepage of the Chinese Embassy in Japan to cheer for Wuhan. Regarding the source of the virus, the Japanese government has said that the virus came from "unknown sources of infection" and has not tried to blame China for the spread of the disease like the United States did.

However, Japan has followed the U.S. on many major issues. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on January 30 that it was necessary to involve Taiwan in the WHO. On April 17, he also called for an investigation into the WHO's handling of COVID-19 after the epidemic subsides. What's more, the Japanese government on April 12 decided to allocate 2.2 billion U.S. dollars to assist Japanese manufacturers operating on the Chinese mainland to transfer to other countries.

In recent months, Japan's diplomacy with China in general has shown the characteristic of "two-sidedness," namely cooperation and hedging co-existing. Compared with the previous policy of "uniting the U.S. to fight against China," this time Japan is more willing to cooperate. Meanwhile, Japan has not politicized or ideologically interpreted China's anti-epidemic measures.

When dealing with issues related to China, Japan's attitude is pragmatic on the whole. It is paying more attention to maintaining the stability of Sino-Japanese relations, a major change stemming from the impact of the U.S. "unilateralist" policy.

As we all know, Japan has felt that it is "threatened" by China's rapid development. It thus has continuously strengthened the Japan-U.S. alliance and intends to work with the U.S. to suppress China's development.

However, after U.S. President Donald Trump's administration came to power, the U.S. insisted on pursuing a "unilateralist" policy, which caused a great impact on Japan. Japan's distrust of the U.S. has increased, and it has begun to maintain distance from the U.S. on many issues.

In 2018, Japan and Europe signed the Japan-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). Meanwhile, Japan advanced the ratification process of the Comprehensive Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) separately without the participation of the U.S. in 2019. Analysts commented that this is Japan's "deviation" from the U.S. strategic will.

Moreover, Japan has always supported the work of the WHO in this anti-epidemic activity. Shinzo Abe at a press conference on April 17 said, "We must now firmly back the WHO for now," which is in contrast to Trump's brutal slander of the organization. Analysts said that this is "lining up against Trump."

The major changes in Japan's diplomacy with China laid the foundation for the further development of Sino-Japanese relations in the future.

At present, although Japan is competing with China in the fields of science and technology, economy and trade, Japan is more concerned about the impact on the global industrial chain caused by the "economic decoupling" between China and the United States.

Moreover, Japan does not want to see China's economic growth slow down due to Sino-U.S. trade frictions and technological conflicts, which will affect the sales of Japanese goods in the Chinese market.

It can be seen that U.S. trade protectionism and political unilateralism have increased the common points of cooperation between China and Japan, which will give China more opportunities to promote the development of Sino-Japanese relations. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said recently that he hoped to sign the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement and promote the China-Japan-South Korea Free Trade Agreement (FTA) as scheduled this year, and was open to participate in CPTPP. This shows the sincerity and courage of the Chinese government in promoting regional cooperation. It is expected that the Japanese government will make more efforts in regional cooperation in various fields to promote the benign interaction between each other.

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