THE PRESS TUESDAY, AUGUST 15, 1978. Japan-China friendship treaty

Press, 15 August 1978, Page 16

THE PRESS TUESDAY, AUGUST 15, 1978. Japan-China friendship treaty

The Treaty of Peace and Friendship between China and Japan, signed last week-end, was a long time coming. Talks which had been stalled for more than two years were reopened last month and a treaty was produced. To get the agreement signed was something of an accomplishment for both China and Japan. It will complement the long-term trade agreement made last February under which China will receive considerable help with technology and Japan will receive access to China’s coal and oil.

China had an ideological problem in that the trade agreement was an admission that resources would be developed for export. Besides that, some formula had to be devised so that China was neither directly borrowing money nor receiving aid. The implementing of the trade agreement was difficult enough to make relations awkward, but the conclusion of the friendship treaty is a sign that the two plan a sound, long-term relationship.

The hostile response to the treaty from the Soviet Union was predictable. What the Soviet Union has said in the past, however, may be stronger than what it says in the future. It has said that it would alter its policies towards Japan if the treaty were signed. But the relations between Japan and the Soviet Union may prove to be more important to the Soviet Union than to Japan.

Soviet naval manoeuvres off Hokkaido and Soviet treatment of Japanese fishermen have been interpreted as attempts by the Soviet Union to dissuade Japan from entering into the treaty

with China. Apart from Soviet dislike of increased friendship between China and anyone else at all, the Soviet Union dislikes an anti-hegemony clause in the friendship treaty which the Soviet Union took to refer to itself. Japan, clearly wanting to come down on both sides of the fence, was earlier considering allowing the clause to remain in the agreement but with a rider saying that it did not refer to the Soviet Union—which it patently did.

From news reports of the treaty, the clause appears to survive without the rider. Japan apparently wanted the treaty enough to agree to China’s demands on that point. Within Japan, the treaty means that the Prime Minister, Mr Fukuda, felt strong enough to hold out against the more conservative members of the Liberal Democratic Party who were deeply suspicious of a friendship agreement with China. It is difficult to see how the attitude of the Soviet Union will be significant in the long-term, and Japan is most unlikely to change its foreign policies radically. The treaty marks a special relationship between the world’s most populous country and the Western world’s second-largest economic power. Unless the Soviet Union becomes unduly agitated, most of the rest of the world, including New Zealand, should be able to view the treaty with favour. To sign such a treaty was an act in the international arena for both of them, making a gesture towards a peaceful relationship. It is an indication that the odd disputes which blow up between them—as a fishing dispute blew up earlier this year—will be settled amicably.