This week, Chinese military officers are visiting their Japanese counterparts, raising hopes for more stable diplomatic relations or at least greater experience with how to deal with any unforeseen crises. What it probably wo n’t do, however, is make any fundamental change in their East Asia stand- off.
On May 14, a committee of 20 People’s Liberation Army ( Army ) senior officials arrived in Japan for six weeks of markets with Japan Self- Defence Forces rivals. It is the first PLA visit to Japan in four decades, thanks to the Sasakawa Peace Foundation.
The trip will stop at the Ministry of Defense in Tokyo, Komaki Air Base close to Nagoya, and Maizuru Naval Base in the Japan Sea, west of Kyoto. The more significant US bases at Yokosuka, on Okinawa and elsewhere in Japan are not on the PLA’s tour plan.
Chinese officers last traveled to China in July 2023, but Beijing’s subsequent set reciprocal visit to Japan was postponed because it was upset that Japan had decided to release waste from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean.
The Japan-China Field Officer Exchange Program was established in 2001 by the privately held Sasakawa Peace Foundation, a non-profit firm with a headquarters in Tokyo.
Reverse visits were originally intended to be conducted every year, but the two parties ‘ tumultuous feud over command of the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands and subsequent controversy surrounding the Covid crisis ended everything.
However, 26 visits involving some 400 officials have taken place so far under the plan, with PLA representatives even paying calling on Japan’s Ground Self- Defense Force (army ), Chinese companies and actually farming villages.
In May 2023, amid tensions over the situation in the South China Sea and Taiwan, the foundation’s honorary chairman, Sasakawa Yohei, told The Diplomat that” At times like this, it is effective for the private sector to create a window for mutual understanding. It’s very important to hobnob together and have informal conversations. Even in the world, this military exchange is unique.
China’s Communist Party- run Global Times, known for its nationalistic stances, also favors the officer exchange program.
The China Institute of International Studies research fellow Xiang Haoyu, who believes that the resumption of bilateral military exchanges is a positive development that contributes to the rebuilding of trust, was quoted in an article published on May 14.
” China- Japan relations have started to bottom out and the beginnings of a gradual rebound,” according to the report from last year. While negative factors affecting bilateral relations, especially Japan’s dumping of nuclear- contaminated wastewater and some Japanese politicians ‘ hyping of]the ] Taiwan question, still exist, both sides have maintained some exchanges and gradually restored relations”, said Xiang.  ,
That may be an optimistic or even opportunistic take on the actual situation, but it does offer some insight into China’s official position on the matter. The PLA officers ‘ visit received a scant amount of coverage in the Japanese press.
The Nippon Foundation and the Japanese motorboat racing organization were the foundations of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation in 1986.  ,
The Nippon Foundation’s history dates back to 1951, when Sasakawa Ryoichi persuaded the Japanese Diet to pass the Motorboat Racing Law, which authorized gambling at motorboat races to raise money for projects like the rebuilding of Japan’s maritime industry.
Sasakawa Ryoichi, a well-known right-winger, was a major player who forged a name for himself in rice speculating, mining, and other endeavors. In the 1930s, he used his wealth to finance a private air squadron. In 1939, he and his squadron flew to Rome to meet Mussolini, whom he called a “perfect fascist”. He gave his aircraft and related equipment to the Japanese military in 1941.
Sasakawa became an independent candidate for free speech in the Diet in 1942. He spent much of the war years in Manchuria and China, where he is rumored to have started highly profitable smuggling operations many years ago. He gets nowhere with that idea.
Sasakawa allegedly pushed the American occupation authorities into detaining him after the war for “instigating aggression, nationalism, and hostility against the United States.” He was the author of a book defending their actions after three years spent with the leaders of wartime Japan, seven of whom were hanged.
He then turned to anti- communist political activity and philanthropy. He and Syngman Rhee, the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, the unification church’s founder, and Chiang Kai-shek, who were in good terms.
The Japan Shipbuilding Industry Foundation was established in 1962, and it was granted the legal authority to administer grants made from motorboat racing proceeds. Naturally, Roy Sasakawa assumed the role of chairman.
The Nippon Foundation was given its new name in 2011 after working with the UN on maritime law, contributing more than US$ 70 million to the WHO’s fight against leprosy, and funding other philanthropic initiatives.
Sasakawa Ryoichi passed away in 1995 at the age of 96. One of his three sons is Sasakawa Yohei. In 2011, the Sasakawa Peace Foundation was transformed into a public interest incorporated foundation, which is one type of Japanese non- profit organization.
In addition to these four regionally focused funds, the Sasakawa Pacific Island Nations Fund, the Sasakawa Pan Asia Fund, the Sasakawa Middle East Islam Fund, and the Sasakawa Japan- China Friendship Fund, it contributes to international exchange and cooperation.
Through the joint disaster prevention, rural health activities, and the military field officer exchange program described above, the Japan- China Friendship Fund aims to promote peace and mutual development between Japan and China.
Sasakawa Ryoichi created the Sasakawa Japan- China Friendship Fund as a means of “promoting permanent peace and mutual understanding between China and Japan.” At present, it serves as a back channel to China at a time of escalating tensions.
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