New temper marks Wen visit

On April 11, 2007, Dr. Wenran Jiang was interviewed by Reuters on recent China-Japan relationship.

In a sign of Chinese government's changing tolerance level for public displays of nationalism, one of the student leaders from 2005 first accepted and then declined an interview, citing his university's more stringent regulations on speaking out on the issue. When Abe sparked an outcry last month by saying there was no proof of government or military involvement in the use of sex slaves during World War ll, the reaction from China was subdued.






"This is an issue where you could jump in, but they didn't do that," said Wenran. "The recent coverage shows clear guidelines not to make inflammatory editorials or comments."

But Jiang also thinks the 2005 protests caused a change in Japan. "It served as a shock, not only to the Japanese public, but also to the conservative- leaning political elites," he said. "The raw emotions expressed simply could not be explained away by pure manipulation by the Chinese party."

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Japan and China put old hostilities aside

On April 11, 2007, Dr. Wenran Jiang was interviewed by the London-based newspaper Telegraph on the improving relationship between China and Japan. This week, Wen Jiabao, the Chinese prime minister, lands in Japan amid mutual effusions of satisfaction at improvements in the two countries' relations. It is the first visit by a Chinese premier to Tokyo in seven years.

Dr. Jiang said Mr Abe had played a clever hand by making his first public move on China an offer to co-operate on energy conservation and security.

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