Chapter 29 "We must look forward positively" - Deng Xiaoping and the Emperor of Japan (2)

Looking at the world, Deng Xiaoping sought common ground while reserving differences, saying: "If it is only about the conclusion of a treaty, it only takes a second to solve it, and it doesn't take a lot of time." Deng Xiaoping pointed out: "China is not afraid of encirclement. The history of the Chinese revolution shows that China has emerged from encirclement." China and Japan have established diplomatic relations, but the relationship between China and Japan does not seem to be completely on the right track.With the changes in Japan's domestic political structure and the international situation, Sino-Japanese relations have also experienced ups and downs. In 1976, Zhou Enlai and Mao Zedong, two founding fathers of the country, passed away successively, and no Chinese leader ever visited Japan.At that time, Prime Minister Tanaka invited Premier Zhou Enlai as the first guest of Akasaka Guest House, a Japanese state guesthouse, in Diaoyutai, but with Tanaka's resignation, it became a blank check.

It should be said that since the Sino-Japanese Joint Statement was issued in 1972 and the normalization of diplomatic relations was restored, the signing of the Sino-Japanese Treaty of Peace and Friendship has been placed before the Chinese and Japanese governments. In November 1974, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Han Nianlong arrived in Japan and held preparatory talks on the Sino-Japanese Treaty of Peace and Friendship with Vice Foreign Minister Fumihiko Togo.But the talks have progressed slowly and in fits and starts, as the two sides disagree on terms over the issue of anti-hegemony. In December 1974, after the collapse of the Tanaka cabinet, a new cabinet was formed by Miki.But the negotiations remained stalled, and later, due to political turmoil in China and Japan, the negotiations finally ran aground. In December 1976, the Miki cabinet of Japan suffered a disastrous defeat in the national election and announced his resignation.Fukuda was elected as the president of the Liberal Democratic Party and ordered to form the Fukuda Cabinet, with Masahiro Ohira as the secretary-general of the party and Naoda Sonoda as the Chief Cabinet Secretary.After Fukuda formed a cabinet, the momentum in Japanese political circles to resume Japan-China treaty negotiations has once again increased.Under such circumstances, Komeito Chairman Takeiri Yoshikatsu decided to visit China, and Prime Minister Fukuda entrusted Takeiri to send a message to China, saying that "the Japan-China Joint Statement must be faithfully implemented. If the two sides understand each other's position and reach a consensus, the Negotiations on a treaty of peace and friendship should be held as soon as possible."However, the Fukuda faction is the most concentrated faction in the Liberal Democratic Party who opposes the Japan-China treaty. Once it is time to make up its mind, the people around him will hold back.As Ryojiro Watanabe, Sonoda's secretary, said in the book "Sonoda Naohito": "When the political situation, especially the relationship with the opposition party, became tense, he (Fukuda) took a positive attitude towards the Japan-China treaty, The purpose is to stabilize the situation; if the situation improves a little, he hesitates and hesitates."

On July 21, 1977, Deng Xiaoping officially returned at the Third Plenary Session of the Tenth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and resumed his positions as vice chairman of the Central Committee, vice premier of the State Council, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, and chief of staff of the People's Liberation Army.Once the news was released, the response in the world was even stronger than the response in China. The reaction to this news was especially strong in Japan, which is a close neighbor of China.The Japanese government immediately expressed its opinion and welcomed the resumption of Deng Xiaoping's work, believing that this showed that China's political situation was becoming more stable, and that Japan-China relations as a whole would also develop in a clear direction.And hope to use this as an opportunity to break the deadlock in the negotiations between Japan and China.The "Tokyo Shimbun" at the time published an article saying: "Due to Deng Xiaoping's resumption of work, China's diplomatic line will further enhance flexibility." It also described, "Deng's resumption of work will also become a catalyst for the (Japan-China Treaty) negotiations .”

In fact, it is exactly as the Japanese predicted.According to the "Deng Xiaoping Thought Chronicle", as early as September 10, 1977, Deng Xiaoping met with the visiting delegation of the Japan-China Friendship Parliamentarian Alliance headed by Kiyogo Hamano. , once pointed out: "We are aware of Prime Minister Fukuda's position in the past. Since Prime Minister Fukuda has declared that he will engage in this matter, we expect him to make contributions in this regard. Although there are various problems, if only As far as the conclusion of the treaty is concerned, it only takes one second to solve it, and it doesn’t take a lot of time. The so-called one second is two words——'sign'."

Deng Xiaoping's declarative speech actually hinted at Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda's final determination. And earlier, on August 15, 1974, Premier Zhou Enlai, who was hospitalized due to illness, entrusted Deng Xiaoping, then Vice Premier of the State Council, to meet with the Komeito Party of Japan headed by Yoshikatsu Takeiri for the fourth visit to China in the Xinjiang Hall of the Great Hall of the People. When I was in the delegation, I had an in-depth conversation on the issue of the "Sino-Japanese Treaty of Peace and Friendship". Takeiri said: "It is almost the second anniversary of the resumption of diplomatic relations between Japan and China. If possible, it is better to start negotiations on a treaty of peace and friendship between the two countries earlier. There are many people in Japan who hold this opinion. There must be a relationship between Japan and China. What should we do with long-term friendly relations, 50-year, 100-year friendly relations? This is the most important thing, and I believe it is also the view of the Tanaka cabinet."

Takeiri hopes to sign a treaty of peace and friendship based on the joint statement of the two governments, focusing on strengthening future friendly relations, and hopes to conclude a treaty of peace and friendship and two business agreements as soon as possible. Deng Xiaoping said: "Your Excellency brought the words of Prime Minister Tanaka and Prime Minister Ohira this time. We have noticed that we will continue to study. We understand the problems faced by Prime Minister Tanaka and Prime Minister Ohira. We are willing to do our best. We will also We have noticed that Prime Minister Tanaka and Minister Ohira have repeatedly expressed their desire to develop friendly relations between China and Japan on the basis of the joint statement. In this regard, we are willing to work together with Prime Minister Tanaka and Minister Ohira to achieve this goal. We hope that the business agreement between the two countries can be signed relatively early. Of course, we are facing some problems in the negotiations. We hope that both parties will work hard to find a solution that is acceptable to both parties. After resuming the negotiations, we hope that both parties will propose something that is more accessible to each other. The solution is nothing more than wording and methods. We believe that through the efforts of both parties, a solution can be found."

When talking about the "Sino-Japanese Treaty of Peace and Friendship", Deng Xiaoping emphasized: "We hope to negotiate relatively quickly. In principle, we believe that it can mainly reflect the desire for friendship between China and Japan. Of course, it is inevitable to It reflects the development of bilateral relations and new changes in the situation after the signing of the joint statement between the two countries. Some unresolvable and difficult problems can be put aside for a while, and will not hinder the signing of such a treaty. The specific steps must always be passed through preparatory Meetings, contact first, the ideas of both parties can be understood first, and problems can be solved in the process of talking.”

Deng Xiaoping asked Takeiri to convey these three points to Prime Minister Tanaka, and at the same time asked the Prime Minister to pay attention to the fact that cabinet members and key government officials should not take actions that would damage the principles of the joint statement between the two countries.Finally, Deng Xiaoping said sincerely: "The issue between China and Japan still focuses on the Taiwan issue. As far as we are concerned, this issue not only involves Japan, but also involves a relatively important issue in international relations. Why is it different from your statement?" Why is this issue emphasized in the Sino-US Shanghai Communiqué? That’s the problem. Of course, we also hope to resolve the Taiwan issue through peaceful negotiations. If not, we can only adopt other methods. Some The Japanese are holding on to Taiwan, can you hold on to it?"

In this regard, Takeiri Yoshikatsu expressed the same view as Deng Xiaoping. On October 14, 1977, less than three months after Deng Xiaoping resumed work, he met with Japanese MP and former Chief Cabinet Secretary Susumu Nikaido in the Great Hall of the People.Nikaido Susumu chose this time to visit China, also because of the "Sino-Japanese Treaty of Peace and Friendship".As we all know, the preparatory negotiations on the "Sino-Japanese Treaty of Peace and Friendship" actually started during the Tanaka cabinet period. After Cabinet Tanaka resigned in December 1974, the Miki Cabinet stated that it would "strive for an early conclusion of a Treaty of Peace and Friendship," and in January 1975, China and Japan decided to start business-level negotiations on a Treaty of Peace and Friendship.However, during the negotiation process, the two sides had differences on the issue of hegemony clauses, resulting in intermittent judgments until the final run aground. After the Fukuda cabinet came to power in December 1976, it also stated that it would "hold negotiations on a treaty of peace and friendship as soon as possible."

The reason why Deng Xiaoping's comeback in July 1977 caused a shock in Japan was that many people in Japanese political circles believed that Deng Xiaoping's "flexibility" could contribute to the friendship between China and Japan, and advocated seizing this opportunity to conclude a treaty of peace and friendship with China as soon as possible. .Also in October of this year, Japan specially established the "Japan-China Peace and Friendship Treaty Promotion Association", with Kosaka Zentaro as the chairman, calling for members of the Japan-China Parliamentary Union and 102 members who have visited in the past seven years. Members of China's National Assembly joined the association to put pressure on Prime Minister Fukuda, including Nikaido Susumu.

Against this background, Nikaido chose this opportunity to visit China in order to promote the early resumption of negotiations on the Sino-Japanese Treaty of Peace and Friendship. Negotiations on the "Sino-Japanese Treaty of Peace and Friendship" were stalled because of the hegemony clause.It was during this meeting with Deng Xiaoping that Susumu Nikaido proposed a new plan concerning the hegemony clause, which was later called the "Nigaido Plan", that is, "to develop peace between Japan and China in accordance with this treaty." friendly relations, not against any third country". Nine months later, the negotiations between China and Japan resumed. After more than ten rounds of arduous negotiations, a treaty of peace and friendship was finally signed.This is something. Deng Xiaoping said that "it only takes a second to conclude a treaty", which shows the position of the Chinese government that it will never compromise on major issues of principle, and can be flexible in dealing with details.Subsequently, Deng Xiaoping repeatedly emphasized China's position on different occasions, hoping that the Japanese government could make progress on the original position.He said to the visiting Japanese friends: "When negotiating and signing the Sino-Japanese Treaty of Peace and Friendship, both China and Japan must proceed from the political point of view of global strategy. I believe that the Japanese people and most Japanese politicians understand this point." Deng Xiaoping mentioned the viewpoint of global strategy in his speech, that is to say, we must see the threat posed by Soviet hegemonism to the entire world, including Japan and China.Deng Xiaoping repeatedly emphasized that the strategic focus of the Soviet Union was in Europe, not in China.He analyzed that in the Sino-Soviet border area, the Soviet Union only had 1 million troops, and it was possible to provoke some conflicts, but it was not good enough to start a war. "If the Soviet Union wants to attack China, what is a million troops? No, even if it comes, occupying Beijing (which is not easy), occupying some places in the Northeast, and even more places, it is only the beginning of the war."However, Europe and Japan are different from China. They rely on African, Latin American and Asian countries for almost all their strategic materials. The most basic thing they want to do is to protect the passage to avoid being surrounded and blocked. After analyzing the strategic intentions of the Soviet Union in detail, Deng Xiaoping pointed out: "Some people say that these actions of the Soviet Union are to encircle China. China is not afraid of encirclement. The history of Chinese revolution shows that China rushed out of encirclement. Setting up military bases, of course, includes targeting China, but is it only targeting China? Cam Ranh Bay is far away from China, cutting off sea traffic, which poses little threat to China, but a greater threat to Japan, Southeast Asia and other Asian countries. The US Seventh Fleet It is also uncomfortable. This is not a problem aimed at China or Asian countries, but a global problem." "In the past we always said that the Soviet Union deployed a million troops in the East, first to deal with the United States, and secondly to deal with Japan. and China. When we put forward this argument, the Americans, Europeans, and Japanese did not quite agree with it. Now, at least a considerable number of people have understood this.” “For a long time in the past, we said that the strategic focus of the Soviet Union was In Europe, Europeans don’t accept it, thinking that the Chinese are alarmist. Now Americans and Europeans probably understand this, and they realize that the Chinese are telling the truth.” “We in China are at ease because we have a clear strategic direction." In Japan, on January 21, 1978, when Fukuda delivered a speech at the plenary meeting of the House of Representatives and the House of Representatives, he pointed out: "The time for negotiations is gradually ripening, so we are determined to make greater efforts." Since March, Fukuda has been in the Liberal Democratic Party Engaged in the work of unified understanding within the party, mainly to persuade the cautious faction headed by Hirokichi Nadao in the party. In May, most of the cautious faction in the Liberal Democratic Party supported the resumption of negotiations on a treaty of peace and friendship between Japan and China. On July 21, the Japan-China Treaty of Peace and Friendship negotiations resumed in Beijing, China. On August 8, Fukuda sent Foreign Minister Sonoda Naoda to visit China. When receiving Japanese friends, Deng Xiaoping also raised the issue of "neither side interferes in internal affairs", and further encouraged Foreign Minister Sonoda to visit China to complete the final preparations for the signing of the treaty. Deng Xiaoping said to Sonoda: "The establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Japan was a bit late, but the development of the relationship between the two countries after the establishment of diplomatic relations is not slow. The pace of treaty negotiations could have been faster, and some time has been delayed. Now we have to catch up. Treaty The core content of the anti-hegemony is actually anti-hegemony. Anti-hegemony does not target a third country, but anyone who seeks hegemony will oppose it. The Soviet Union’s opposition to this article is precisely exposing itself. In today’s international situation, we need Japan’s help, and Japan also needs China’s Some help. There are not any problems between China and Japan. For example, the Diaoyu Islands issue and the continental shelf issue. Such issues should not be brought into it now, but can be put aside and discussed in a leisurely manner later.” Under the guidance of Deng Xiaoping's flexible diplomatic policy of "seeking common ground, reserving minor differences, seeking more common ground, and seeking more ways of mutual cooperation, assistance and cooperation", after talks, the two sides reached an agreement on a treaty of peace and friendship, which promoted the The Sino-Japanese Treaty of Peace and Friendship was signed in Beijing on August 12, 1978. At around 7:00 pm on August 12, 1978, the signing ceremony of the Sino-Japanese Treaty of Peace and Friendship was held in the Anhui Hall of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.A huge screen stands on the front of the hall, and the pattern on it is the flood control dam of Foziling Reservoir in Anhui Province.In front of the screen stood a rectangular table covered with a green tablecloth.The national flags of China and Japan are planted in the center of the table.Huang Hua, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, and Naoda Sonoda, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan, sat on both sides of the table and exchanged treaty texts after signing two treaty texts written in Japanese and Chinese respectively.Deng Xiaoping attended the signing ceremony. At that time, Prime Minister Fukuda watched the signing ceremony in front of the TV in the official residence.It is said that the chair he was sitting on was exactly the chair that Prime Minister Sato sat on when he watched Nixon's visit to China in a sour mood six years ago on February 21, 1972.Times change, things change with people.What kind of state of mind is Futian at this time?After watching the signing ceremony, Fukuda stood up and sighed to the reporter: "The wooden bridge has become an iron bridge, and it will be much more convenient to transport things in the future." As for the signing of the "Sino-Japanese Treaty of Peace and Friendship", the reaction of Japanese public opinion was also very positive. "Sankei Shimbun" believes: "Prime Minister Fukuda and relevant government authorities have gone all out and worked hard in the negotiations. This should be highly praised." At this time, four years have passed since the first negotiation in 1975.