Fraternity alone won't resolve problems

At the meeting, Hatoyama expressed his desire for Japan and China to acknowledge and overcome differences and build a relationship of trust, in a spirit of "fraternity". He also said he would like to pursue the idea of forming an East Asian community based on this idea.

The idea also is stipulated in the Democratic Party of Japan's policy pledges. We assume the prime minister's intention was to stress the new government's stance of attaching importance to relations with Asian neighbours.

But Hu, in response, stopped short of referring to the proposed plan and instead mostly mentioned proposals to boost economic and trade relationships between the two countries. As for historical recognition, the Chinese president said he would like to highly commend Hatoyama's stance of following the statement made by then prime minister Tomiichi Murayama in 1995 that acknowledged Japan's colonial past and military aggression.

In a way, the relationship of the two countries has been once again moved forward based on "strategic and mutually beneficial relations", a political agreement reached between the two countries when the Liberal Democratic Party was in power.

Meanwhile, there has been a fierce tug-of-war between Japan and China regarding the framework of the East Asian community. The prime minister will sooner or later be asked his views on the shape of the envisioned community.

When it comes to the joint gas-field development project in the East China Sea, a contentious issue between the two countries, Hatoyama said he wanted to change the "sea of problems" into a "sea of fraternity".

The two countries have already agreed to jointly develop the Shirakaba gas field, known as the Chunxiao gas field in China. Nevertheless, during the summer, China took action that could be seen as preparations to independently develop the field. It is a good example of the problems that exist in Japan-China diplomacy that cannot be simply resolved with "fraternity".

Touching on the Shirakaba dispute, Hatoyama urged the Chinese to start negotiations soon to forge a treaty on the 2008 political agreement, saying he is unable to discern China's real intentions. On this, we agree.

Hu said in response that it would be necessary to take correct steps from a broad perspective. We urge China to start negotiations as soon as possible.

On climate change, Hatoyama has pledged as a midterm goal for Japan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 per cent from 1990 levels by 2020.

Hu reportedly told Hatoyama that he highly valued the prime minister's "positive attitude", and added that China would make its own efforts to help lead the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change to a successful conclusion. However, we understand that the prime minister proposed the reduction goal on the premise that the United States, China and other major greenhouse gas-emitting countries would join in this effort and agree to ambitious goals.

The prime minister must step up efforts to persuade China, which has refused to shoulder its greenhouse-gas reduction responsibilities, to change its mind.

Hatoyama also will meet US President Barack Obama and other world leaders. We hope at these meetings, he will keep in mind that diplomatic problems cannot be resolved by fraternity alone but also must involve the grim realities of conflicting national interests.