Ice hockey players practise during a test event for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games at the National Indoor Stadium in Beijing on Thursday. The test event series will run until April 10. Photo: AFP

After a month of indecision, Japan announced it would not send a government delegation to the Beijing Winter Olympics, but will send three heavyweights with ties to the Olympics, while not daring to use the term "diplomatic boycott." Chinese analysts said Japan's decision was a failed balancing act that is unlikely to satisfy either neighboring China or its US ally, as Chinese netizens called Japan "biting the hand that feeds it," citing China's support of the Tokyo Olympics, but the US might not be pleased since Japan did not firmly follow the US move of "diplomatic boycott."

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told a news briefing on Friday that Japan will not send a government delegation to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. Instead, it will send Seiko Hashimoto, a House of Councilors lawmaker and president of the organizing committee of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, and two others with ties to the Olympics to the February events, and Japanese athletes will attend the Games as scheduled, Kyodo News reported on Friday. 

Matsuno did not say whether the decision represents a "diplomatic boycott," instead explaining that the government "does not have a special term" to describe the move. 

Japanese media said the announcement was made by Matsuno rather than Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was because Japan did not want to directly provoke China as the two countries are set to mark the 50th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations in 2022.

While expressing that China welcomes the Japanese Olympic Committee and athletes to attend the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian at Friday's media briefing also said we hope and urge the Japanese government to honor its commitment to support each other in hosting the Olympics and depoliticize sports. 

Japan's explanation apparently did not satisfy Chinese netizens who called Japan "deceitful" and "biting the hand that feeds it" across social media platforms.

For Chinese scholars, Japan's decision was made after a long struggle over whether to compromise to its right-wing forces and listen to the US, or keep its previous promises to China in supporting each other's Olympic events. Unfortunately, Japan chose to forego its independence and break its promises even after the US has requested it increase defense spending to a record high and delay Kishida's US visit.

Japan' move also showed the world that it cannot be respected internationally as it has sadly lost independence in not only diplomacy but also sports, following the US' politicization of Olympic events, analysts said. 

Japan's decision deviated from the basic principles of mutual respect and equal treatment between countries, succumbing to the pressure from its right-wingers and trying to move closer to the US even after being taken advantage of, said Li Haidong, a professor from the Institute of International Relations of the China Foreign Affairs University. He noted that the international society clearly sees that the US' goal was to  generate tension in Asia, and being an accomplice to the US will put Japan in a vulnerable position. 

Liu Jiangyong, vice dean of the Institute of Modern International Relations at Tsinghua University, told the Global Times that Kishida's cabinet has come under pressure from the right wing of the Liberal Democratic Party （LDP）, which is the major reason of the final decision. He said ironically that Japan's calculated balancing act is unlikely to satisfy either neighboring China or its US ally.

Western media, including Reuters, described Japan's move as one that "stopped short of calling the decision a diplomatic boycott." 

Indecisive and contradictory

Lian Degui,director of the Department of Japanese Studies at Shanghai International Studies University, told the Global Times that the chief culprit in forcing Kishida to make such a decision was Japan's right-wing forces led by former prime minister Shinzo Abe, and that Kishida was originally believed to prefer a softer tone on China. Thus, Japan's China policy was an extension of power struggles within Japan's political parties. 

According to Japanese media, Kishida faced mounting pressure from the LDP to "boycott" the Beijing Winter Olympics, and Abe seemed to make the same request to Kishida during their meeting on Thursday. 

On Friday, the LDP and Taiwan's secessionist Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) held online talks, discussing possible cooperation on semiconductors and lifting of a ban on Taiwan's food imports from five Japanese prefectures including Fukushima, which suffered a nuclear accident a decade ago.

The Chinese Embassy in Japan said on Friday that the DPP-LDP "diplomatic and economic dialogue" is in essence an official exchange in disguise. It seriously violates basic international norms and is a deliberate provocation against China's sovereignty and internal affairs.

A small number of countries, including Japan, have intensified their ties with the Taiwan secessionists and are challenging China's red line. They bear the responsibility for tensions across the Taiwan Straits, said the Embassy, noting that the Taiwan question bears on China's core interests and the political foundation of China-Japan ties. 

Analysts believe that while Kishida is trying to send a message of reducing tensions, some right-wing Japanese politicians are trying to hold him back by using the "Taiwan card" as a provocation to China.  

Kishida avoiding directly stating the government's attitude on the Beijing Winter Olympics was an attempt to strike a balance. The Kishida government had called a halt to a China-related bill proposed by some LDP members citing human rights issue in Japan's parliament this week, which angered Abe and his followers. Yet he yielded to the right wing's pressure on the Olympics, Lian said. 

The embarrassing position of Kishida also demonstrates the fault lines within the Japanese society. While some LDP members aimed to pressure him on provoking China, Japan's business community is trying hard to move in the opposite direction. 

During the 15th China-Japan Economic Partnership Consultation on November 28, Hiroshi Suzuki, Senior Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, said Japan and China are important economic and trade partners, and "we hope to strengthen economic cooperation and people-to-people exchanges between the two sides and maintain communication on international economic issues."

On Japan's decision on the Beijing Winter Olympics, a representative from the Japan Association of Corporate Executives on December 14 urged the Japanese government to be cautious in making the decision, as making clear positions does not necessarily conform to national interest. 

For China-Japan relations, 2022 marks the 50th anniversary of the normalization of China-Japan diplomatic ties and is an opportunity to advance bilateral ties. If Tokyo follows the US "diplomatic boycott," it will become a huge obstacle between the two countries, Liu said.    

Japanese Ambassador to China Hideo Tarumi had previously said that China and Japan should seize the opportunities presented by the Tokyo Olympics and Beijing Winter Olympics, together with the 50th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic ties to further promote the healthy development of bilateral relations.

Japan faces a dilemma when it comes to the "joining the West" policy as an immobile island in East Asia, and some analysts said Japan has never had a leader with the vision and commitment to lead Japan on a path of real independence and dignified development.

Factionalism is still a basic characteristic of Japanese politics. LDP is still firmly in the position of the ruling party. Abe is the actual leader of the largest faction in the LDP, and is still the main deciding force of the LDP.

Japan is well aware that it is the only country in Asia with a strong sense of "following the West," and would be completely isolated in Asia if it explicitly follows the US in boycotting the Beijing Winter Olympics, Liu said.