On Thursday, at an event presented by the Portland State Center for Japanese Studies, associate professor of economics Hiro Ito spoke about the current clash between Japan and China over a group of three small and uninhabited islands in the East China Sea.
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Hiro Ito, associate professor of economics, spoke on Thursday.
Slides of revealing statistics captured the attention of a crowd of nearly 50 listeners. They were gathered to understand a difficult topic buried deep in national sentiments and entwined in a complex historical relationship.
The islands have been claimed by three different governments and are part of a long history of contention. In September 2012, the Japanese government made the decision to nationalize the islands. This resulted in massive protests by thousands of people in more than 100 Chinese cities.
Ito described the heated situation.
In China, protests have become violent. Citizens have called for a boycott of Japanese products in as many as 85 Chinese cities.
“There have been situations where Chinese citizens have been beaten for driving Japanese cars,” Ito said.
While possession of the territories will grant the right to possible oil reserves and access to fisheries, the issue goes far deeper.
Japan’s decision to nationalize the islands has essentially added more fuel to a historically tense relationship between the two countries, Ito explained. There is a great deal of anti-Japan sentiment in China, and the feeling is mutual in Japan—especially since China took Japan’s second-place spot on the list of the world’s largest economies.
“For Japan to become the third-largest economy, from the second, is a big shock. It is a psychological issue of national pride,” Ito said?
In his lecture, Ito sought to show the strong economic undercurrents surrounding the situation. The paradox is that both countries are reliant on one another.
“Both countries need each other economically,” Ito said. He suggested that interdependency may have been the cause of this clash.
“The United States have no territorial issues, so it’s difficult to understand how this is a sensitive topic,” Ito explained. “A territorial issue is simply an emotional topic.”