Published on February 5, 2020.
This article discusses an essay by Yaita Akio published on the front page of the Sankei Shimbun, focusing on the Chinese Communist Party leadership’s de facto admission of shortcomings in its initial response to the spread of the novel coronavirus, the possible responsibility of President Xi Jinping, the impact on the National People’s Congress, and China’s history of politically using Japan whenever it is in trouble.
It refers to the Emperor’s visit to China in 1992 and Xi Jinping’s meeting with the Emperor when he was vice president, arguing that Xi’s planned state visit to Japan in April 2020 would offer Japan almost no benefit and that the Abe administration should propose canceling it.

2020-02-05
A reform-minded intellectual in Beijing pointed out, “When China is in trouble, it politically uses Japan.
That is its usual method.”
The following is from an essay by Yaita Akio, deputy editor of the foreign news department, published on the front page of today’s Sankei Shimbun under the title “A Visit Amid the Turmoil, Politically Using Japan.”
Yaita Akio is one of the world’s leading China experts.
As a second-generation child of a Japanese war orphan left behind in China, he returned to Japan at the age of fifteen and studied at Keio University.
“Long live the great, glorious, and correct Chinese Communist Party!”
This is one of the slogans often written on the walls of government offices in cities across China.
It is a phrase once spoken by former party chairman Mao Zedong, but even now it is used as wording to propagandize the brilliance of the Communist Party.
The key word in the slogan is “correct,” and it seems that what it most wants to emphasize is that “the judgment of the party organization is always correct.”
In running the state, it insists that the party’s instructions are always “the most appropriate.”
Even if a problem occurs, the usual method is to shift responsibility onto individual local leaders and others by saying, “The instructions were not thoroughly implemented.”
However, an “abnormality” occurred at the meeting of the Politburo Standing Committee, China’s highest leadership, held on the 3rd.
At the meeting, it summarized the response to the spread of the novel coronavirus infection by saying that there had been “defects and inadequacies,” and in effect admitted that there had been problems in the initial response.
Dissatisfaction has erupted both inside and outside China over a series of sloppy responses, including the concealment of information before the infection spread and the failure to isolate infected people.
The issue has already become something for which responsibility can no longer be shifted onto local leaders, and one can say that the party leadership has been driven into a corner to the point that the matter will not subside unless it admits its own fault.
After the spread of infection subsides, it cannot be ruled out that the situation may develop into a political struggle, including the pursuit of personal responsibility by President Xi Jinping, the supreme leader.
As the raging novel pneumonia has led to the postponement of assemblies across China, and as even the schedule of the National People’s Congress, the national legislature, which was scheduled to open on March 5, has begun to be described as fluid, what is concerning is the impact on Mr. Xi’s planned state visit to Japan in April.
At a press conference on the 3rd, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying indicated that China wished to realize the visit as scheduled.
A reform-minded intellectual in Beijing pointed out, “When China is in trouble, it politically uses Japan.
That is its usual method.”
Even before now, when China has been in trouble, it has used Japan many times as a breakthrough for improving its situation.
It is well known that China used the Emperor’s visit to China in 1992 to avoid international isolation after the Tiananmen Square incident.
Mr. Xi himself, when he was vice president, visited Japan and forcibly met His Majesty the Emperor in violation of the “one-month rule,” under which foreign dignitaries wishing to meet the Emperor must apply at least one month in advance.
He used that meeting to improve his position within the party.
It is uncertain whether the infection in China will have subsided around April, when Mr. Xi is to come to Japan, but I believe the situation in which the international community continues to be wary of “people and goods” from China will remain unchanged from now.
Under such circumstances, if Mr. Xi were to come to Japan accompanied by several hundred people from China’s political and business worlds, it would become the best possible “declaration of safety” to the world.
If he expressed gratitude for Japan’s support and staged Sino-Japanese friendship through a handshake with His Majesty the Emperor, he could also avoid the diplomatic isolation China has faced since the Hong Kong demonstrations.
Furthermore, if the visit to Japan succeeded, Mr. Xi’s centripetal force within China would also increase.
It would truly be “killing three birds with one stone,” but for Japan, it would merely benefit China, and almost no merit can be found.
In Japan, voices opposing Mr. Xi’s visit are growing stronger.
The administration of Abe Shinzo should now propose to China that Mr. Xi’s visit to Japan be canceled, saying, “Please devote yourselves to domestic matters for a while.”