Textbook issue and trilateral cooperation

By Lee Jong-guk

South Korea has continued to offer help to victims of a strong earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan on March 11. Amid the ongoing provision of humanitarian aid, the Japanese government authorized new school textbooks renewing its territorial claims to Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo last month.

Some Koreans may think that Japan has returned their warm and heartfelt assistance with the irrational claims and subsequent history distortion. It is quite regrettable that the Japanese leadership lacks the capability of going beyond the distortion.

The textbook issue has been one of major factors hampering cooperative ties between the two countries. It has also served as a stumbling block to trilateral cooperation among Korea, China and Japan.

Most of all, Japan has failed to lay the groundwork for regional cooperation in East Asia as the island nation refuses to sincerely reflect on its past aggression and wartime atrocities, while pursuing high economic growth during the Cold War era.

Since 1980 Japan has turned a deaf ear to South Korea and China’s demands that the former colonial power rectify its history distortion. As a result, the three nations have made little progress in their efforts for dialogue and reconciliation over the history-related issue.

Despite the standoff, Korea and Japan have tried to maintain friendly ties rather than stoking conflicts in order to realize a common goal of promoting democracy and economic development. More recently, Seoul has made efforts to set a new model of cooperation with Tokyo by joining the disaster relief efforts for the quake-hit northeastern Japan.

In spite of the efforts, Japan has now escalated tensions with Korea by authorizing the textbooks laying territorial claims to Dokdo.

Japanese politicians said the textbook authorization was part of the country’s domestic administrative procedure. Japan needs to think over why it has not managed to develop a genuine “strategic partnership” with its East Asian neighbors. Now is the time for them to exercise their leadership to have better ties with Korea by moving toward reconciliation over the history issue. They cannot prove their sincere attitude toward their neighbor without making such efforts.

The Korean government is firm in its position that the nation’s humanitarian assistance to the quake victims is one thing and the textbook standoff is another. It vows to cope with the issue calmly and decisively.

Korea, China and Japan should work together more closely to facilitate economic growth and regional cooperation in Northeast Asia in the 21st century. Through collaboration, they can address matters of mutual concern and achieve common policy goals, while making efforts to meet each other’s expectations.

However, the three nations have often increased tensions in the region by approaching the thorny history issue from their own unilateral point of view. To overcome this problem, they are recommended to focus more on multilateral cooperation than on bilateral one that can be swayed by regional powers.

But, the countries have yet to produce successful results in easing conflicts and deepening cooperation because there are wide differences in their recognition about the disgraced history.

Korea, China and Japan are required to make more efforts to forge substantially cooperative relations. First, their leaders should figure out what is necessary to shift from conflicts to cooperation. They must review each other’s positions and pool their wisdom to set a mechanism to mitigate conflicts.

In this process, the leaders can map out measures to strengthen cooperation. They should not end up with a worst-case scenario that would heighten tensions and bring about a crisis. Instead, they had better strive to have a best-case scenario to step up collaboration and promote co-existence.

Second, they are also obliged to exercise their leadership of wisdom and cooperation to better manage the elements of conflicts. In addition, they need to take a proactive stance to better understand the historical aspects of the regional conflicts, while putting more stress on the problem-solving process than on the result.

It is also necessary for them to recognize that colonial rule and other painful past incidents remain an obstacle to forming the identity of Northeast Asia. They can better position themselves for cooperation after sharing the recognition.

Last but not least, Korea, China and Japan should play a central role for the development of the East Asian community. Trilateral reconciliation and collaboration are indispensible to achieving this objective. Now, China and Japan should not be engrossed in expanding their influence in the region. Instead, they are urged to find common ground and take concrete steps toward collaboration.

Only then can the three nations succeed in restoring mutual trust in East Asia through institutionalizing regional cooperation. All the people in the region should endeavor to find reconciliation over the history issue and advocate peace in East Asia.

Dr. Lee Jong-guk is a researcher at the Northeast Asian History Foundation in Seoul. He can be reached at globaljglee@nahf.or.kr.