Yasushi Kudo, president of The Genron NPO, made the keynote speech to start off the proceedings at the sub-session on the media on Oct. 26 as part of the two-day Ninth Tokyo-Beijing Forum in Beijing.

He first discussed the results of the joint Japan-China public opinion survey released in August. The survey showed that public opinion towards in each country toward the other was lower than it has ever been, with close to 90 percent of citizens in each country having a poor impression of the other.

Kudo also pointed out that in contrast to the Japanese public's lack of confidence in the objectivity of Japanese media coverage; a majority of Chinese people believe their media to be objective and dependable. A number of survey respondents in China have an image of Japan that is "hegemonistic" and "militaristic" and Kudo asked the gathered delegates why they thought this image of Japan exists.

Aside from Kudo, the session was participated by 12 journalists and media experts, or six each from Japan and China, as panelists.

Jing Ying, a researcher of the Institute of Japanese Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), presented the results of a separate survey that was conducted in China on the China-Japan relationship. Jing stated that until last year there were still many people with a positive image of Japan in China.

However, after last year's nationalization of the Senkaku (Diaoyu) Islands by the Japanese government, the impression of Japan dropped drastically. Jing stated that the reason for this includes historical and territorial disputes, but in addition to this is the current Japanese foreign policy aiming for the so-called "diplomatic encirclement of China."

Jing suggested that all of these issues could have had an effect on the present Chinese image of Japan as militaristic and hegemonistic. However, Jing also stressed the importance of the economic and cultural ties between the two countries, and that they should not allow the territorial dispute to affect those ties.

Hirotsugu Aida, special editorial writer and columnist for Kyodo News Agency, offered an analysis of the survey's results regarding confidence in the media. Aida suggested that one possible reason that the Japanese people have lost confidence in the media is that media literacy in Japan is rising, and he sees this as a positive thing.

Meanwhile, Chinese media, and particularly Internet-based media, has increased its coverage of the government, with a focus on local governments. Aida suggests that this, coupled with people's expectations of the media, has had a positive influence on the results of the public opinion survey.

Zhang Niansheng, deputy chief of the International Division, the People's Daily, talked about new media. The role of media, according to public opinion, has undergone great changes over the last few years, and with the appearance of SNS and other new media, news is being disseminated even faster than before. Without an astute understanding of these new types of media, Zhang believes that the relationship between the countries cannot be improved.

Toshiyuki Ito, a senior writer for the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper, discussed the importance of responding well to changing media environment.

Regarding the numbers seen in the Japanese portion of the public opinion survey, Ito said that he doesn't believe 90 percent of the population of Japan truly has a poor impression of China, and he questioned whether the media is having an effect on public opinion.

Jing Ying of China explained the depth of news coverage. More and more, the people of China are looking for more timely news coverage by the media, and Jing pointed out that fewer people are thinking deeply about a single topic.

For example, there is little understanding of the Japanese trade deficit in China, and there is no analysis of Japanese economic potential. Jing stressed that deeper analysis on both sides could lead to greater understanding.

Wang Zhongyi, editor-in-chief of "People's China," China's official monthly magazine in Japanese, also made a statement regarding the limitations of news coverage and gave as an example the excessive coverage of Chinese air pollution by Japanese media.

Wang stated that there is a large amount of negative coverage regarding China in the Japanese media, and talked about the importance of understanding the cultural environment of China in international coverage.

Yoichi Kato, senior commentator for the NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation), said that the Chinese media has less ability to cover news about the Chinese government in regards to diplomatic issues.

He said his largest complaint was that the Chinese people do not have a correct understanding of the agenda behind the much-disputed nationalizing the Senkaku (Diaoyu) Islands, and that he would like to see fairer coverage of the issue in the Chinese media.

Kazuo Ogoura, former Japanese Ambassador to France and former president of the Japan International Exchange Foundation, brought up that the countries are faced with an apparent paradox: although economic and cultural exchange is increasing between Japan and China, each nation's impression of the other is becoming worse.

Takao Yamada, senior political writer for the Mainichi Shinbun, responded that the origin of the paradox can be found in the anti-Japan demonstrations and almost daily sighting of Chinese ships around the Senkaku (Diaoyu) islands.

He brought up the recent NHK special program called "Turbulent China" as an example of "deeper" coverage of China. The special was based on footage taken over the course of one year, and looked at psychological changes and the drift toward religion that has arisen as China grows stronger economically, and a great number of people in Japan were able to sympathize with their plight.

Cheng Manli, deputy dean of Peking University's School of Journalism and Communication, stressed that they should be discussing the fundamental issues. Cheng stated that part of the problem may lie in the fact that within the Sino-Japanese relationship, the Chinese are looking toward the past, while the Japanese toward the present, and that the Japanese media is remiss in its duties to provide coverage of historical issues.

In response, Aida of Kyodo News pointed out that the Chinese media is remiss in covering the validity of the nationalization of the Senkaku Islands, and that media coverage of national policy serves to validate it.

He Lan, professor of the Communication University of China, said that Japanese media is exclusive, and that they should make more skeptical coverage of national policy. He acknowledged that the Japanese media is too heavily influenced by the government and the media opinions of the West.

Media Sub-session (Second Half)

The discussions in the second half of the media sub-session revolved around the theme: "How to improve mutual respect among the populations of Japan and China."

Ogoura began with the provocative suggestion that media in both countries completely stop coverage of the islands issue and look at more important issues.

Yoichi Kato, senior writer for the Asahi Shimbun newspaper, voiced his belief that the complete focus on the islands issue is strange. By relativizing the island issue in regards to the lives of the Chinese people, he believes that new perspectives will arise.

The Chinese side pointed out that Japan is involved in the territorial dispute with Russia as well, so there is no reason for there to be absolutely no coverage of those issues.

In order for the future of the China-Japan relationship to not take on a negative light, it is important to facilitate exchanges in various private-sector turfs that have been developed up to now, according to the Chinese delegation.

The Chinese side also stated they could understand that the two countries cannot focus too much on history issues alone, but, at the same time, the issue can't be forgotten. It is important for each to see from the other's viewpoint, and this will be beneficial to the improving the relationship between the two countries, one Chinese panelist said.

The Chinese side had a question about what Japanese students learn from Japanese history textbooks regarding the acts of aggression committed during World War II.

Ogoura, who was formerly Japanese ambassador to South Korea, handled the history textbook issue during his days as a diplomat, and he responded by saying, "The issue regarding history textbooks is incredibly difficult. It is fundamentally a question of how Japanese see Japan's history, and right now this is unclear."

Aida said that teaching is done in a variety of ways, including the one in which Japan's act of invasion was strongly condemned. Japanese students also learn about the negative aspects of Japan's modernization process, he added.

Starting in 1945, Japan and China were on opposite sides during the Cold War, but now, both countries serve as examples of true Asian success stories as the world's 2nd and 3rd economies, he said.

In Southeast Asia and the United States, there is the view that problems would arise if Japan and China weren't friendly and that if the Japan-China relationship is to ever end, it would be as if the world had ended, warned Aida.

He added that the Japan-China relationship is a "common asset" of the world, and the media of both countries should cover bilateral issues in the belief that this incredibly important relationship ought not to be broken because of an issue over some small islands.

Ma Weigong said that what the Chinese and Japanese media should know is that their coverage has an influence on the public opinion of their respective country. Ma was very surprised that in the recent public opinion survey, it was shown that 90 percent of the population of both countries has a negative opinion of the other country. Ma bluntly said that this is "a result of what we (in the media) have been doing."

Ogoura said, "In regards to understanding between the two countries, the media has an extremely strong significance. Cultural exchange is also the responsibility of the media, and creating places for that interchange to occur is important. In regards to the influence toward each other's country, we should feel responsible, he said. (End)