Clarissa Tan

China steps into the breach

Singapore

China has lost little time pledging rescue help and aid to Japan, even though it is burying its own dead from the earthquake that shook Yunnan on Thursday. Beijing is keenly aware the world is watching it like never before – so its leaders are keen to make all the right noises. But dig deeper, and the reaction is more ambivalent, especially amongst ordinary Chinese, many of whom seem to have mixed feelings about Japan’s disaster. On sites such as Sina Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, some microbloggers have been snide – and some downright sadistic. (The Wall St Journal blog translates some here). It’s a reminder that Sino-Japanese enmity can run very deep. The war seems a long time ago for Europe, but not so in Asia. For many Chinese, events like the Nanking massacre still loom surpisingly large in the memory.

Beneath the goodwill (and attendant photo op) that may be generated from Chinese rescue workers landing in Japan lies an old unease that has intensified in recent months. Tokyo reacted with anxiety when Beijing declared it would raise its defense spending by 13 percent this year (many experts think actual spending will be higher), and just one week ago it protested over a Chinese military helicopter buzzing one of its destroyers in the East China Sea. The governor of Tokyo recently told the Independent that Japan will have to develop nuclear weapons, and Wikileaks reveals that Japan is creating a spy agency for the first time it its postwar history. Last month, Japan learned it had been leapfrogged by China as the world’s second-biggest economy – a title which Japan held for 42 years.

Yet for all the bad chemistry between China and Japan, there is an element of realpolitik in Beijing’s response to the tsunami.

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