Discuss Japan/China Trade Relation. Has WWII ended? A rocky relationship with a
difficult past?
In recent years, China and Japan economies are respectively the worlds second and
third-largest economies. With Chinese economic development, and improving of the
competitiveness of export products, Japanese import and export with China was growth
rapidly, and has significantly higher than the United States. In 2008, China-Japan trade
grew to $266.4 billion, a rise of 12.5 percent on 2007, making China and Japan the top
two-way trading partners. China was also the biggest destination for Japanese exports in
2009.
Sino-Japanese trade Review and Features
(1) In 1972 after the normalization of Sino-Japanese relations China and Japan have highly
complementary economies and geographically advantage so that the trade relationship
between China and Japan have been rapidly increased and stable in development. During
2001, the United States and the Global economic slowdown by 9.11 incident. Japan
exports to the global decreased of 15.7 percent and imports also decreased by 7.9%, but
compared with Chinese the total trade last year increased by 4 percent to $ 89.196 billion
compared to the early establishment of diplomatic relations with China has grown more
than 80 times.
There are features when Sino-Japanese trade keeps rising: trade structure from “vertical” to
“horizontal” direction. For example, China imports from Japan mostly manufactured goods
in the past, while China exports to Japan mainly primary products and labor-intensive
manufactures. After the 1990s, the clothing, mechanical and electrical products which
China exports to Japan increased significantly. In 2001, the ratio of manufactured exports
from China to Japan have been as high as 84%, the export of electromechanical products
sustained strong growth momentum from $510 million in 1990 to $16.54 billion in 2001.
28.4 % of China total exports to Japan less than textiles with 29.1% and ranking second in
exports to Japan.
The 2010 Senkaku Boat Collision Incident operating in disputed waters collided with
Japanese Coast Guard’s patrol boats near the Senkaku Islands. The collision and Japans
subsequent detention of the skipper resulted in a major diplomatic dispute
between China and Japan. When Chinas repeated demands for the release of the skipper
were refused and the detention of the skipper extended for a further 10 days, the Chinese
government cancelled official meetings of ministerial level and above. Though denied by
the Chinese Government, it was reported that China halted exports ofrare earth mineralsto
Japan. The detained Chinese crew members were released without charge and were
