China needs conflict for popular opinion: Japan PM

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says China has a “deeply ingrained” need for conflict with neighboring countries, particularly Japan, to maintain public support for the ruling Communist party.

In an interview with The Washington Post, Abe said clashes with Japan play to popular opinion since “anti-Japanese sentiments” are propagated in Chinese education system.

The interview was conducted on Saturday on the condition that it not appear in the paper until the weekend when Abe is scheduled to arrive in the US.

The two economic heavyweights have been at loggerheads over the sovereignty of a group of small islands, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, in the East China Sea. The Islands are under the control of Japanese government.

Tensions between China and Japan flared up earlier this year when Tokyo decided to nationalize three of the five uninhabited islands.

Following Japan’s move, angry protesters in China attacked Japanese shops and firms and set some of them on fire. Sales of Japanese goods stumbled dramatically in China after the attacks.

Abe said China’s leaders will be forced into a tight corner if its neighbors, unnerved by Beijing’s “maritime expansionism,” decide to reduce trade with China.

If China’s economic boom hits a snag, it “will not be able to control the 1.3 billion people ….. under the one-party rule,” the Japanese premier said.

“What is important first and foremost,” Abe said, “is to make [China] realize that they would not be able to change the rules or take away somebody’s territorial water or territory by coercion or intimidation.”

Taking a tougher stance against China was one of Abe’s pledges made during the election campaign that brought him back to power in December 2012.