8月5日，由中国日报社和日本言论NPO共同实施的2013年中日关系舆论调查报告出炉。旋即，有关调查结果的报道就登上了中日各主要新闻媒体门户网站的显要位置。看了这些报道后，我发现最牵动两国媒体神经的新闻，就是“九成中日民众对彼此国家印象不好”。

 两个半月后，第九届北京-东京论坛将在北京举行。第九届会议的参会者聚在一起，首先不得不面对九成负面印象的问题，让我也想起了一个中国成语：九九归一。它的意思是，事情归根到底，回到本源。

  一年来中日关系风云剧变。陷入目前严重困难局面的本源问题，可以用“一件事、两个人、三否认”来概括。一件事，就是钓鱼岛问题，此次舆论调查的结果也验证了这一点。两个人，是日本前首相野田佳彦和现首相安倍晋三。2012年7月2日第八届北京·东京论坛召开之际，野田曾向论坛发来致辞，称自己是“日中交流之子”。但正是他，在随后的9月11日推动实现了日本政府的非法“购岛”。这是对中日关系不折不扣的“恐怖袭击”。中国当然不会接受这种荒谬无理的做法，采取了坚决的措施，宣誓、捍卫自己的领土主权。而在其后两国间相关的接触和磋商中，野田内阁又发展出“否认存在领土争议”、“否认搁置争议的共识”的新说法，使情况更加恶化。

 2012年12月26日安倍晋三重新就任首相后，进一步增加了一个否认，即否认存在谈判解决争端的可能性，称“尖阁（中方称钓鱼岛）问题没有谈判余地”。至此，日本的两届政府形成了其至今仍在坚持的“三不”政策。安倍首相以这三否认政策为前提，却反过来指责“中方坚持为对话设置前提条件”。这就是今天双边关系变僵，看不到解决出口的症结所在。

 10月23日是中日和平友好条约批准书交换仪式的35周年纪念日。在这一天开幕的第九次北京·东京论坛上，我们期待与会者能够重温当年老一辈领导人为开辟两国和平友好大道，搁置领土争议，达成谅解共识的大局观和大智慧。

China, Japan need to seek solution on dispute

Updated: 2013-08-08 08:12  ( China Daily)

Expert's view | Jin Ying

  Results of the 9th Public Opinion on China-Japan Relations 2013 survey, sponsored by China Daily and the Japanese non-profit think tank Genron NPO, were released on Wednesday. The result, which was posted on the main news websites of both countries, immediately attracted attention and triggered discussions.

  After reading the reports and comments, I found most of the media concentrated on the point that "90 percent of citizens from each side share a negative impression of the other country."

  The 9th Beijing-Tokyo Forum is to be held in Beijing in October. The forum needs to first deal with the embarrassing fact that 90 percent of those questioned have negative impressions. The number reminds me of a Chinese idiom, Jiu Jiu Gui Yi, in which the character Jiu shares the same pronunciation as the number nine in Mandarin. The idiom means that we should trace back to the origin of an issue.

  The root reasons behind the current deadlock in Sino-Japanese relations can be summarized as "one issue, two persons and three denials".

  "One issue" means the territorial dispute over the Diaoyu Islands.

  "Two persons" are the two Japanese politicians who intensified the tensions in bilateral relations, namely Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his predecessor Yoshihiko Noda.

  Noda, who once claimed that he wanted to enhance China-Japan communication, was behind Tokyo's illegal purchase of China's Diaoyu Islands on Sept 11. It was like a "terrorist attack" against China.

Beijing refused to acknowledge Japan's action, and firmly declared its sovereignty over the islands.

In later negotiations between the two governments, Noda proposed two new, yet notorious ideas, including "denying the existence of sovereignty disputes" and "denying the consensus of shelving differences and seeking joint development (of the islands)", which further worsened the situation.

When Abe was reelected as prime minister in December, he added another denial - the denial of the possibility of solving the dispute through negotiation. Abe stated, there is "no room for negotiations over the Diaoyu Islands dispute".

Until now, the two Japanese administrations have established "three denials" that they still uphold. With such policies as preconditions, Abe slandered China, saying Beijing "insists on setting premises for the dialogue". That's the crux of the current deadlock in the bilateral relationship.

The forum is to be held on the 35th anniversary of the signing of China-Japan Peace and Friendship Treaty. It is a good opportunity for both sides to work out a solution by learning from the wisdom and strategy of former leaders.

The author is an associate research fellow at the Institute of Japanese Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.