Japan's Aid To Change

Chinese and Japanese have a friendship that has lasted for two thousand years. Since the founding of People's Republic of China, the relationship between China and Japan has experienced its highs- and lows, and finally normalized in 1972. Japan's economic cooperation with China, which started with limited interchanges between civilians, has also developed into the areas of inter-governmental interactions. In 1979, the Japanese government decided to offer China assistance in the form of Official Development Assistance (ODA), which has become a win-win relationship between the two countries. Japan's assistance to China has supported the development of infrastructure in China, benefited bilateral trade and Japanese companies' direct investment in China, contributed to the rapid growth of the Chinese economy and the expansion of China's domestic market, and also indirectly contributed to the cooperation in the areas of economy and trade between the two countries.This paper, The Changes in Japan's Policy Regarding Assistance to China, first introduces the background of Japan's assistance to China. Second, it documents the volume and status of Japan's assistance to China and its significance. Third, it discusses why and how the Japanese government adjusted its policy regarding assistance to China. Fourth, this paper analyzes the impact of the changes in Japan's policies on China and China's responses. Fifth, it discusses the prospect of Japan's assistance to China. We conclude that Japan's assistance has facilitated China's reform and opening, helped accelerate the economic growth in China. Japan offers more assistance to China than any other country does. However, Japan has recently changed its policy regarding its assistance to China in terms of target regions, conditions, sectors, methods, and monetary volumes. These changes include the attachment of political conditions to financial assistance in 1992, intermediate ODA terms in 1999, and a major shift from assistance to the construction of infrastructure in coastal regions to those that facilitate the mutual understanding between Chinese and Japanese, such as environmental protection, improvement of living standards in inland provinces, social development, education and training, and establishing institutions. Nowadays, the assistance primarily goes to mid-western and western regions, and the arrangement of loans has also changed. These changes have had a profound impact on us, thus the Chinese government has to work out policies to deal with them. For example, we should stick to the principle of maintaining a friendly relationship between Japan and China; we need to adjust our own policies to adapt to changes; we should put an emphasis on developing interactions and cooperation between civilians in the two countries; we need to develop our own economy and strengthen our ties to the international society; we should take advantages of our strengths, improve the management and implementation of assistance programs to fully achieve effectiveness; we should work on public awareness of Japanese assistance to improve mutual understanding; we should conduct good analyses of fluctuations in Japan's assistance and actively improve the economic relationshipbetween these two countries.Evidently, Japan's ODA to China is a win-win undertaking that benefits both sides. Both governments need to take the effects and effectiveness of the bilateral economic cooperation, in the process of developing future ODA policies. On the issue of ODA policies, both China and Japan should not only continue the good tradition developed in the 1980s, but also collaborate on theoretical thinking and find mutual grounds, so that the ODA will play a positive role in the development of the relationship between these two countries. In conclusion, the future of the China-Japan relationship and the prospect of Japan's ODA to China will be great.