The Role Of Environment Cooperation In Promoting Sino-Japanese Relationship From The Angle Of Interaction Among Main Actors

Sino-Japanese relationship has always been one of China’s most important bilateral andexternal relations. Since its establishment in1972, it has been developing in a wavy trendand unstable way because of some conflicts and divergence, such as historical issues,territorial disputes, etc., and lack of mutual trust, which is one of the most importantinternal factors. The direct consequence of lack of mutual trust is the expansion ofdomestic nationalism in both countries. It has even become a barrier for the two countries,their citizens in particular, to objectively considering their relationship. However, this kindof lack of mutual trust is not generated from a single factor in a short time. It is not onlyrooted in their historical vendetta, but also subjected to a lower degree of interactionbetween the two governments and their people. Therefore, solving the problem isbecoming a long-term and arduous project. In addition, the stable development ofSino-Japanese relationship depends on mutual cooperation in various fields, and can beachieved through good political, economic and security interaction on the basis of mutualtrust.Throughout Sino-Japanese cooperation in a variety of fields, environment cooperation isthe most effective and is an area with deeper interaction. The reasons are as follows: firstly,it is an early-started area with a long history; secondly, the actors participating in thiscooperation are various, including not only the two governments but also somenon-governmental organizations or even individuals. In addition, the two parties may useenvironment issue, which is a hot point nowadays, as an opportunity to strengthen thedegree of mutual trust and acknowledgement with the help of the interaction among actors.Environment cooperation is employed as a platform to realize bilateral dialogues andcommunication, to improve political understanding, economic development and security cooperation, and to enrich the content of Sino-Japanese relationship.Environmental issue has become popular since1970s, which is exactly the time whenSino-Japanese relationship and environment cooperation started to establish. Theconformity of the three periods of time has attracted the author’s attention and evokes herdeliberation. The environment cooperation is developing with the improvement ofSino-Japanese relationship. In other words, the environment cooperation is one of theearliest areas with the history of over30years, achieves a lot, and is regarded as one ofthe most active, effective and potential areas and a fine example in Sino-Japanesecooperation and communication. Due to the Spillover Effect and Spread Effect of theenvironmental issue, there exist mutual benefits in this area. The author takes thissuccessful environment cooperation as a clue and uses the interaction of the two parties asthe entry point to analyze the impact of the environment cooperation on the developmentof Sino-Japanese relationship, which is embodied through the Spillover Effect. In otherwords, China and Japan consider environment cooperation as a platform to graduallyincrease the communication between their governments and people, which can enhance thedegree of mutual trust and eventually has a positive effect on political, economic andsecurity relationship between the two parties, thus furthering the development ofSino-Japanese relationship. The author thinks of it as a new breakthrough and uses it toexplore the improvement of Sino-Japanese relationship.