参考译文
What Are the Mutual Interests that Link China and Japan?
There are some undeniable new links in the strategic interests of China and Japan in the 21st century.
First is dealing with non-traditional threats to security. With the development of the international situation since the end of the Cold War, in particular since the terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001, and the outbreak of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) in 2003, there has been an obvious increase in awareness of non-traditional security threats. Jointly coping with the challenges/The strategic needs to jointly cope with the challenges posed by those threats will surely become a strong link in the relationship between China and Japan in the 21st century.
Second, enhancing cooperation in the field of traditional security is also a cornerstone of Sino-Japanese strategic interests.
With regard to traditional security, since mutual trust has not yet been achieved, both sides will be especially concerned with the other's growing power and how that power could be used.
Thus China and Japan should treat each other's development with an equal, normal and realistic attitude. Both countries have reached a consensus on establishing "a friendly cooperative partnership devoted to peace and development," which was demonstrated in their joint statement signed in 1998.What we need to do in the future is to realize this consensus.
Third, "no more war between China and Japan" is the most fundamental common ground linking the strategic interests of the two countries.
China and Japan are close neighbors separated only by a strip of water. This indicates that it is convenient either to cooperate with each other or do harm to each other. Modern military technology has made it absolutely certain that the one who does harm to the other will face immediate retaliation. If a war broke out between us two neighbors, there would be nothing else but a no-win consequence. Therefore, to some extent, "no more war between China and Japan" is the most basic joining point of strategic interests between the two countries.
Politics is a reflection of the economy. The fact that Japan is an economic giant will surely be reflected in politics.
Japan's becoming "a major political power" resulted from the trend of multi-polarization in the international structure. However, under the increasingly close Japan-US alliance, Japan's diplomatic clout has not gone beyond being a medium nation subordinate to the United States, despite its wish of becoming "a major political power".
Of course, there are two sides to every coin. Since the 1990s, by participating in the United Nations' peacekeeping activities, Japan has played its own part in many "hot spots" around the world. It can be argued that Japan's being independent of the United States is the pre-condition of its becoming "a major political power. " In this respect, the United States will not really be pleased with and supportive of Japan's ascension to {& a major political power" because this means Japan will no longer be so closely aligned with America, or like some European countries, will even dare to say no to the United States.
But from the viewpoint of the international community, Japan's role as a major political power is in line with the developing trend of multi-polarization.
National interests of a country include economic interests, security interests, political interests and social interests, etc. There are joining points in economic, security, political and social interests between China and Japan.
Since both China and Japan regard developing economy as the primary task of the nation, economic interests are at the core of their national interests. Developing Sino-Japanese economic and trade cooperation conforms to not only the interests of both countries but also the trend of economic globalization.
China is still faced with the task of realizing industrialization. Hence, the fundamental interests of China's relations with Japan lie in how to make use of and learn from Japan's technology and experience to accelerate China's industrialization. While on Japan's part, it is of fundamental interest to benefit from China's rapid economic growth and energetic reform.
China and Japan have their respective advantages regarding productive factors, such as labor forces, land, technology, capital and management. Developing Sino-Japanese economic cooperation can help activate the respective advantages of the two countries, which is also a fundamental objective in developing Sino-Japanese economic and trade relationship.
