Link to article: https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/japan-china-seeking-security-talks-near-future-says-japan-foreign-minister-2023-11-25/
Wang Yi, China’s top diplomat spoke to Japanese Minister Yoko Kamikawa at their meeting in South Korea and agreed to hold security talks in the near future, in hopes of closer communication between Japan and China. Wang also said that both sides must respect each other’s concerns but establish that there is no threat to one another. Kamikawa has expressed Japan’s desire to lift the Chinese ban on Japanese seafood after the Fukushima nuclear power plant’s wastewater release. However, the China ministry responded claiming that they still desire to employ a long term monitoring system for stakeholders. Diplomatic disputes like the waste water release have highlighted the need for an improvement in the relations between China and Japan in both the economic and security sector.
China and Japan’s hope to hold security talks has potential to strengthen the relationship between the two countries who have been having conflicts lately over numerous issues, like the detainment of Japanese nationals in China and the release of Fukushima wastewater. If China and Japan are in closer communication then some of these issues may be resolved and the Japanese seafood ban could be lifted which would be beneficial for the Japanese seafood industry, which has been suffering from the ban. Security talks can help ensure security, specifically with actors like North Korea continuously growing in power. China and Japan have had tense relations since the Cold war but still have a thriving trade partnership and have had no recent conflicts.
The proposed security talks between China and Japan connect to class by showing how reciprocity and the cooperation between two actors can help strengthen their relationship and work towards collective security because of their diplomacy. Having security and economic partnerships also creates an interdependence between countries and allows them to have better relations because they rely on each other. However, a constructivist would say that interdependence is not enough and that because of China and Japan’s different identities and ways that they run with China being communist it may be hard for them to have a strong relationship. China’s relationship with Japan also can be looked at through the lens of Commercial peace theory and how the two countries are cooperating because it’s in their own interest to have stability and succeed economically.