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Beijing should think about why many Japanese don’t like China, says Tokyo envoy

蘋果日報 2020/12/30 05:21


Tokyo’s new ambassador to Beijing has urged his host to “carefully study” the reasons behind the overwhelming antipathy among many Japanese against China and recommended that the country reverse the situation.
The newly appointed Tarumi Hideo told Chinese media that stable, constructive ties between the two nations were of significant meaning, especially a relationship which involved “high-level communication at any time.”
Tarumi, 59, is the China expert and fluent Mandarin speaker who succeeded Yokoi Yutaka in November as Japan’s top representative to the world’s most populous country.
He studied at Nanjing University in 1986. It is said that he is familiar with affairs related to mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan as he previously served as a consul of the Japanese Consulate General in Hong Kong, and as the general affairs director at the Taiwanese office of the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association.
Tarumi’s comments, made in an interview with Shanghai-based digital news outlet The Paper published on Monday, referred to a public opinion survey jointly conducted by the Beijing-Tokyo Forum and Japanese think tank Genron NPO in September and October.
The survey found that as many as 89.7% of Japanese people had a “bad” or “not good” impression of China, an increase of 5% from 2019, Japan’s public broadcaster NHK reported.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said following the survey findings that the Japanese people had an “apparently wrong and problematic” perception about China.
In The Paper’s interview, Tarumi said that diplomatic authorities had to handle with care the issues of feelings and trust between Japanese and Chinese people.
“The two countries should have more people going beyond the cognitive deficiencies and emotional barriers and treating each other modestly, honestly and objectively in order to open up more multi-domain and multilevel exchanges,” he told The Paper.
“I hope China can study the reasons for the current state of affairs and how to reverse this situation. We are willing to explore together with the Chinese and put forward suggestions if necessary. In response to China’s efforts, we will do our best to assist.”
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