China and Japan
Blossoming
May 8th 2008 | BEIJING AND TOKYO
From The Economist print edition
译者: stier
But ties between Asia's two biggest powers remain delicate
但是，亚洲两个最强大国家之间的关系依然微妙。
FIRST came the "ice-breaking", then the "ice-melting". Now, Hu Jintao hopes, comes "everlasting warm spring". A series of reciprocal visits over the past 20 months by the leaders of China and Japan have brought a thaw in bilateral relations. On May 6th Mr Hu, China's president, began a state visit, China's first to Japan in a decade; at five days, it will also be Mr Hu's longest single foray to any country. The next day he and Japan's prime minister, Yasuo Fukuda, signed a blueprint for ties that represented a "new starting-point", with regular top-level visits in future and both military and cultural
exchanges.
先是"破冰"，再是"融冰"。现在，胡锦涛希望，两国关系能迎来一个"长久的暖春"。近20个月以来，在中日领导人互访的带动下，两国关系有所缓和。5月6日，中国国家主席胡锦涛开始对日本进行国事访问，这是十年来，中国领导人第一次出访日本；5天的行程，是胡锦涛最长的一次对单一国家访问。第二天，胡锦涛与日本首相福田康夫签署了一份蓝皮书（《中日关于全面推进战略互惠关系的联合声明》），表示今后将定期进行高层互访以及军事和文化方面的交流，这代表着两国关系的"新起点"。
The latest freeze began in 1998, when Mr Hu's predecessor, Jiang Zemin, came to Tokyo demanding a lavish written apology for Japan's wartime past. A growing number of Japanese had come to feel that their country had apologised enough for its wartime brutality. Besides, they resented the way a rising China played on war-guilt to extract concessions from its rich neighbour. Relations hit rock bottom under Junichiro Koizumi, Japan's prime minister from 2001-06. Top-level contacts between the two countries were suspended after Mr Koizumi began making devil-may-care visits to Yasukuni, the Tokyo shrine that honours not just Japan's war dead but also executed war criminals.
最近的一次两国关系僵化始于1998年，当时，胡锦涛的前任江泽民要求在京要求日本对战时问题发表一份洋洋洒洒的书面道歉。越来越多的日本民众认为，他们的国家已经为其战时的罪行道歉得够多了。此外，日本民众反感崛起中的中国对战争罪行采取的方式，榨取日本这个富有邻国的让步。2001年至2006年，小泉纯一郎担任日本首相，两国关系在此期间进入冰冻局面。当小泉不顾一切的拜访靖国神社之后，两国首脑互访中断。神社中不仅供奉着战死的日本军人，还敬奉着日本战犯。
Mr Koizumi's successor, Shinzo Abe, a right-wing hawk, nevertheless broke with Mr Koizumi's line by visiting Beijing as his first gesture in office. He refrained from visiting Yasukuni. The Chinese were grateful. They were overjoyed when Mr Fukuda took over after a year. He enjoys that double-edged accolade of being a "friend of China". He has long criticised politicians' visits to Yasukuni and believes that good relations with Japan's Asian neighbours are paramount.
小泉的继任者安倍晋三是一名右翼鹰派，他上任后第一站便出访北京，打破了小泉以来的坚冰。
责任编辑:zhaotingting
