Japan 3, China 1 - but both are
losers By J Sean Curtin
As if
the litany of territorial, economical and political
disputes that frequently blight Sino-Japanese relations
were not already long enough, soccer must now be added
to the list. In the latest installment of an
unpredictable bilateral saga, Saturday's final of the
Asia Cup soccer tournament in Beijing became the latest
flashpoint in a new bout of Sino-Japanese friction.
Japan won 3-1, a galling reminder of that country's
brutal wartime occupation of China.
An explosive
cocktail of Chinese nationalism and a Japanese soccer
victory led to Chinese rampaging in Beijing, the
culmination of ugly protests during the matches running
up to the final. Although the disturbances were minor by
international standards of soccer hooliganism - no one
was reported injured - they did reignite tensions
between the two neighbors, further complicating their
relationship, politically troubled but economically
powerful. Ironically, people-to-people exchanges have
been expanding and are largely positive.
While
Japan emerged the victor on the soccer pitch, both
Beijing and Tokyo came out of the affair as political
losers. Unless relations markedly improve in the next
few years, long-term economic ties, which are currently
growing at an astronomical pace, will probably suffer.
Despite the presence of 10,000 troops and riot
police, China's inability to quell the disturbances
raised questions about the effectiveness of Beijing's
security measures and the country's ability to handle
the 2008 Summer Olympics. Despite China's urging and
warnings, it could not control its own people - and that
must be deeply worrying in a nation of 1.3 billion
people, with high unemployment and a widening gap
between rich and poor.
The quirks of soccer
conspired to turn the normally innocuous Asia Cup final
into a diplomatic worst-case scenario that pitted two
quarreling neighbors against each other. Thousands of
zealous and deeply patriotic Chinese fans - many term
them hooligans - swarmed into Beijing's Workers' Stadium
to cheer their national side to victory, only to witness
a controversial Japanese victory. Pandemonium reigned on
the streets of the capital afterward, but by European
and Latin American standards, "riot" is too strong a
word.
Commentators had predicted trouble,
especially if China lost on its own turf. In all Japan's
pre-final matches, the team had encountered hostile,
jeering Chinese fans who were angry over a whole host of
issues ranging from a perceived lack of regret about
Japan's wartime atrocities in China to a string of
territorial disputes.
Some elements of the
Japanese media blame the trouble on official Chinese
state propaganda that they claim has long promoted
anti-Japanese sentiment as a way of encouraging
patriotic fervor.
Tense match
atmosphere The final started with loud hisses and
boos accompanying the playing of the Japanese national
anthem, a familiar scene in all of Japan's earlier games
in China. Once the ball was kicked into play, Japan
began to dominate the field. A 65,000-seat stadium was
noisy but tense.
Japan got the first goal. At
first that was greeted by shocked silence, then a burst
of angry howls. A few people hurled food at the Japanese
players and the security forces stood by, looking tense.
Fortunately, the home side quickly scored and shouts of
joy erupted around Beijing as Chinese national pride was
temporarily restored.
The second Japanese goal,
however, caused extraordinary uproar, which soon turned
to bitter anger as video replays clearly showed that a
Japanese player's hand had unintentionally touched the
ball before it went into the net. Chinese sports
commentators were outraged by the foul.
In the
closing minutes of the match, Japan slammed in another
ball to secure a 3-1 victory. However, many Chinese fans
were infuriated by what they considered an illegal
second goal, believing Japan did not deserve to win
because of it.
A controversial defeat at the
hands of the wartime foe was just too much for many
overzealous Chinese fans, more than their national pride
could endure. Despite a massive deployment of security
forces, disturbances immediately broke out around the
stadium as outraged Chinese supporters rejected the
result. Japanese flags were burned outside the stadium,
and some diehard supporters protested until the early
hours of the morning.
The raw anger of the
Chinese crowd made it impossible for the small
contingent of Japanese fans inside the stadium to leave
without risking their lives. Police were forced to
detain them inside the venue for well over an hour
before it was deemed safe to transport them out by bus
under heavy police guard.
The crowd smashed the
windows of a Japanese diplomat's car as it drove away.
The Chinese government fully apologized for the
incident, but the violence raised questions about the
effectiveness of Chinese security measures and the
country's ability to provide adequate protection for
athletes and fans at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
Before the final, Beijing had tried to promote
the event as a friendly encounter. Its chaotic ending
must have come as a humiliating blow. Kong Quan, a
Chinese government spokesman, had optimistically
predicted, "We hope Chinese and Japanese soccer fans
will enjoy a wonderful match on 7 August with good
behavior."
A bad result for
Beijing For the Chinese government the sight of
unruly crowds thronging the streets of the capital is a
deep embarrassment, denting the carefully crafted image
of social order and harmony that it has been so
desperately seeking to project.
More seriously
for China, the soccer rampage clearly highlights the
limits of the state's power to control its own people.
On previous occasions Beijing has also been unable to
contain riots sparked by anti-Japanese sentiment, such
as the three-day, large-scale anti-Japanese protests
that broke out in the city of Xi'an last November after
Japanese students staged a raunchy skit interpreted as
being anti-Chinese.
If such raw anger were to
manifest itself in a domestic issue such as
unemployment, China could be struck by a massive wave of
social unrest. While the present level of anti-Japanese
feeling is alarming, the possibility of public anger
shifting into the domestic realm must deeply trouble
Beijing's rulers.
Concerns over 2008
Olympics The post-match riots have led some
commentators in Japan as well as in Europe and the
United States to question Beijing's ability to stage the
2008 Olympics. Sunday's main evening Japanese news
devoted several minutes to reporting foreign criticisms
of China.
However, considering the fact that no
Japanese was reported injured, and the relatively minor
scale of the trouble, these criticisms seemed too
severe, if not unfair. In reality, the general problems
associated with the policing of such a difficult
international soccer match in Europe or Latin America
would have been far more serious than they were in
Beijing. Indeed, by the standards of international
soccer, the post-match unrest was nothing particularly
unusual. Compared with scenes often witnessed in Europe
and Latin America, Beijing's disturbances were
insignificant.
Hitoshi Urabe, a commentator at
the Japanese Institute for Global Communications, said,
"Soccer fans are known for their barbarian behavior in
almost every part of the world. The most notorious might
be the hooligans of the UK."
Urabe was not
surprised by the reaction of Chinese fans. He thought
their actions would be fairly well understood in most
soccer-playing nations, except the United States, which
lacks a strong soccer tradition. He commented, "Perhaps
the only part of the world where soccer is treated in a
very minor way is North America, especially the US,
which seems to believe in unilateralism in the field of
sports, too."
For Japan a soccer triumph but
a political disaster For Japan, even though its
soccer squad returned home victorious with the gleaming
Asia Cup trophy and golden smiles, this latest crisis in
Sino-Japanese relations is a very worrying sign. It once
again exposes the disturbing depths to which political
relations with China have sunk under Prime Minister
Junichiro Koizumi.
Koizumi's premiership is now
widely acknowledged to have seriously harmed once-good
political ties and to have greatly intensified
anti-Japanese sentiment in China. This latest incident
is just another concrete manifestation of the chronic
problems he has caused. A strong contributory factor to
nearly all the recent bilateral trouble stems from
Koizumi's annual high-profile visits to the war-tainted
Yasukuni Shrine, which is dedicated to Japan's war dead
but also honors 14 Class A war criminals enshrined in
the 1970s, making the monument a political hotspot.
Despite the massive waves of Asian protests that
have greeted each visit, Koizumi has repeatedly insisted
that he does not think his pilgrimages cause any harm to
relations with Japan's neighbors and that all he is
doing is honoring the country's war dead. He has also
pledged to visit the shrine once every year. His shrine
visits have made him persona non grata in China
and high-level political visits between the two are very
rare.
While the liberal elements see the shrine
visits as provocative, conservative media blame China
for bilateral problems. An article in the leading daily
Yomiuri Shimbun said, "Undoubtedly this behavior is
partly caused by the anti-Japanese propaganda long
promoted by the Chinese authorities and efforts to
arouse patriotic sentiment in China by encouraging every
member of society to join patriotic movements. In
addition, Chinese society condones insulting Japan."
Kunio Sasaki, a politician for the main
opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) who recently
returned from an official visit to China, said, "Since
Koizumi became prime minister, relations with China have
suffered a meltdown. His visits to the Yasukuni Shrine
have ignited dangerous passions in many Chinese." If the
DPJ wins the Lower House election, the party will change
the dynamics of the current situation and repair
bilateral relations, he said.
Given Koizumi's
avowed determination to continue his Yasukuni
pilgrimages, Sino-Japanese political bonds seem unlikely
to improve until he leaves office in about two years'
time.
Will Sino-Japanese ties
improve? The future, however, is probably not as
grim as it appears at this moment. Economic ties are
extremely strong and rapidly growing. People-to-people
exchanges are also at all-time highs, with huge numbers
of Chinese students in Japan.
Dr Linda Yueh, a
highly regarded expert on the Chinese economy at the
London School of Economics, told Asia Times Online,
"Relations between Chinese and Japanese at the personal
level are already much better than what it had been 20
or 30 years ago, in my experience. The opportunities
afforded to Chinese workers by Japanese employers have
changed opinions in urban China as well as the fading of
the impact of the last World War among the younger
generations."
She added, "At a nationalistic
level, the rivalry such as seen in sports will likely
exist for some time, but the day-to-day relations will
probably become better as the Chinese become more
globalized and the Japanese more keen in gaining from
trade with China."
J Sean Curtin is
aGLOCOMfellow at the Tokyo-based
Japanese Institute of Global Communications.
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