In Brief

Hitoshi Tanaka, former Japanese Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and now a Senior Fellow at the Japan Centre for International Exchange, argues today that recent developments in Japan-China relations, in particular President Hu Jintao's visit to Tokyo, suggest that leaders in both countries have finally come to realize that confrontation serves neither country's interests and that both have much to gain from enhanced cooperation.

However, he warns, it is important not to forget that it was only three years ago that relations between Japan and China reached a postwar low. While the warming of bilateral ties since the autumn of 2006 has been remarkable, relations between the two nations remain in a fragile state. Only time will tell whether the two nations have truly put the past behind them and are capable of working together to tackle the substantial regional and global problems that both countries will continue to face in the years ahead. See his argument in full @ East Asia Insights.

Mr Tanaka was a participant in the East Asia Forum Dialogue in Sydney last March.