Japan's subnational governments in China: emerging bilateral relations

Abstract

One of the many areas of growing engagement between Japan and China is at the subnational government (SNG) level. Yet this development has received scant attention from analysts and scholars who study Japan's local government and international relations. This article opens the window on the bilateral relationship at the SNG level, focusing on the actions of Japanese SNGs and their incipient role as international actors. The case of the Japan–China relationship at the SNG level is analysed in comparative context by considering the worldwide trend among SNGs to pursue international activities. The analysis focuses on three major types of linkages that Japanese SNGs have developed in China: (1) formalized sister relationships between SNGs; (2) trade promotion; (3) technical and economic cooperation. This development has important implications both for local–national relations in Japan and the way foreign relations are now managed

Notes

To avoid confusion I use a generic term ‘subnational government’ instead of the terms ‘local self‐government’ (chiho jichi), ‘local public entity’ (chiho kokyo dantai), or ‘local autonomy’ (chiho jichi) that are used in the Japanese constitution. The terms used commonly in academic writing are ‘local government’ in English and chiho jichitai and its abbreviations chihojichi and jichitai in Japanese. The term ‘local government’ is potentially confusing here, since in a federal system it refers to administrative units below, and not including, states or provinces. This could imply exclusion of prefectures, which are their equivalent in Japan's unitary political system. However, Japan's prefectures have a status similar to that of states or provinces in a federal system and no Japanese prefectural government establishing an international sister relationship in a federal system would do so with other than a state or province. Hence a generic term ‘subnational government’ is more appropriate. In the case of Japan, subnational governments include all government bodies below the national government: 47 prefectures (to, do, fu, ken), 12 designated cities (seirei shitei toshi), and all other municipal bodies from large cities to small towns and villages. Altogether there are some 3200 subnational governments in Japan.

* Professor Purnendra Jain, Centre for Asian Studies, University of Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia. Fax: +61‐8‐8303‐4388. Email: ⟨[email protected]⟩. The author would like to acknowledge financial support for this project from the Australian Research Council under its large grants scheme. This is a revised and updated version of a paper presented at the ‘China–Japan in the 21st Century’ conference in August 2002, organized by the East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore. Japanese names appear in Japanese order, that is, surname followed by given name. The one exception is names of Japanese authors in English‐language publications where English‐language conventions are retained.

A recent book in English edited by Michio Muramatsu, Farrukh Iqbal and Ikuo Kume, Local Government Development in Post‐war Japan (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), does not even mention this development in Japan's local government. Similarly books in English on Japan's international relations make no mention of Japan's local governments as actors in international affairs. I have conducted an extensive study of the international activities of Japanese local governments and their implications for Japan's foreign policy, under contract with RoutledgeCurzon with the working title of ‘Japan’s Subnational Governments in International Affairs'.

On developments in Europe see, for example, Jessica T. Matthews, ‘Power Shift’, Foreign Affairs, 76, 1 (1997), pp. 61–62; John Newhouse, ‘Europe’s Rising Regionalism', Foreign Affairs, 76,1 (1997), pp. 67–84; Elizabeth Bomberg and John Peterson, ‘European Union Decision Making: The Role of Sub‐national Authorities’, Political Studies, 2 (June 1998), pp. 219–235.

Mike Clough, ‘Consulates Belong to Yesterday’s Diplomacy', Los Angeles Times, reprinted in Daily Yomiuri, 17 August 1998. On developments in the United States, see for example, Earl H. Fry, The Expanding Role of State and Local Governments in US Foreign Affairs (New York: Council of Foreign Relations Press, 1998); Heidi H. Hobbs, City Hall Goes Abroad: The Foreign Policy of Local Politics (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1994); Mike Clough, ‘Grass‐Roots Policymaking’, Foreign Affairs, 73,1 (1994), pp. 2–7; Matthews, ‘Power Shift’.

See Peter T. Y. Cheung and James T.H. Tang, ‘The External Relations of China’s Provinces', in David M. Lampton (ed.), The Making of Chinese Foreign and Security Policy in the Era of Reform, 1978–2000 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001), pp. 91–122. See also David Arase, ‘Japan Sea Regionalism: The Role of Sub‐national Authorities’, in Markus Perkmann and Ngai‐Ling Sum (eds), Globalization, Regionalization and Cross‐Border Regions (New York: PalgraveMacmillan, 2002), pp. 176–188.

See Gerrit Jan Schep, Frank Angenent, Jeroen Wismans and Michiel Hillenius, Local Challenges to Global Change: A Global Perspective on Municipal International Cooperation (The Hague: Sdu, 1995).

See Terence Guay, ‘Local Government and Global Politics: The Implications of Massachusetts’ “Burma Law” ', Political Science Quarterly, 115,3 (2000), pp. 353–376.

Representatives of the cities and local governments of the world issued a declaration at the time of the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development in August 2002 which contained a list of their current and potential roles in local, national, and global affairs. See ‘Local Government Declaration to the World Summit on Sustainable Development’, available on the International Union of Local Authorities website, ⟨iula.org.com⟩, accessed 28 February 2003. Many such cases from across a number of countries are cited in Michael Shuman, Towards a Global Village: International Community Development Initiatives (London: Pluto Press, 1994).

See, for example, Matsushita Keiichi (ed.), Jichitai no kokusai seisaku (International policy of subnational governments) (Tokyo: Gakuyo Shobo, 1988); Yabuno Yuzo, Rokaru inishiatibu (Local initiative) (Tokyo: Chuokoronsha, 1995); Purnendra Jain and Mizukami Tetsuo, Gurasurootsu no kokusai koryu (Japan's internationalization at the grassroots level) (Tokyo: Habestosha, 1996).

See, for example, Niigata City's former chief of international office account, Ichioka Masao, Jichitai gaiko (Subnational governments' diplomacy) (Tokyo: Nihon Keizai Hyoronsha, 2000); Kanagawa Ken, Minsai gaiko 20 nen: sekai ni hirakareta Kanagawa o mezashite (Commemorating 20 years of local diplomacy: opening Kanagawa to the world) (Kanagawa, Japan: Potosaido Insatsu), 1995; also see CLAIR (Council of Local Authorities for International Relations) publications such as its monthly Jichitai Kokusaika Fuoramu.

Published works in English include David Arase, ‘Shifting Patterns of Japan’s Economic Cooperation in East Asia: A Growing Role for Local Actors?', in Marie Soderberg and Ian Reader (eds), Japanese Influences and Presences in Asia (Richmond, UK: Curzon, 2000); Purnendra Jain, ‘Japan’s Urban Governments, Their International Activities and Australia–Japan Relations: An Exploratory Essay', Policy Organisation and Society, 4 (Summer 1991); Purnendra Jain, ‘Emerging Foreign Policy Actors: Subnational Governments and Nongovernmental Organizations’, in T. Inoguchi and P. Jain (eds), Japan's Foreign Policy Today (New York: Palgrave, 2000); Gilbert Rozman, ‘Backdoor Japan: The Search for a Way out via Regionalism and Decentralization’, Journal of Japanese Studies, 25,1 (1999), pp. 3–31; Glenn Hook, ‘Japan and Micro‐ regionalism: Constructing the Japan Sea Rim Zone’, in Yoshinobu Yamamoto (ed.), Globalism, Regionalism and Nationalism: Asia in Search of its Role in the 21st Century (Oxford: Blackwell, 1999); Tsuneo Akaha, ‘Despite the Northern Territories: Hokkaido’s Courting of the Russian Far East', paper presented at the International Studies Association Annual Convention, Portland, 25 March 2003.

Some high‐profile local political leaders such as Tokyo's Governor Ishihara Shintaro have raised concern over China's human rights conditions and its growing defence budgets.

Interview with Professor Ebashi Takashi of Hosei University, Tokyo, 22 April 2002.

David S. G. Goodman and Gerald Segal (eds), China Deconstructs: Politics, Trade and Regionalism, (London and New York: Routledge, 1994).

Gerald Segal, ‘Deconstructing Foreign Relations’, in Good and Segal (eds) China Deconstructs, p. 345.

Cheung and Tang, ‘The External Relations of China’s Provinces', pp. 91–122.

Segal, ‘Deconstructing Foreign Relations’, pp. 334–5.

Liaoning established exchange with two Japanese prefectures (Kanagawa and Toyama) and with 14 Japanese cities at municipal level including Kitakyushu and Sapporo. See Yoshida Hitoshi, Kokusaitekina jichitai no genjo to tenbo: Chugoku Riaoninsho de no jirei kenkyu (Subnational government international cooperation: challenges for the future—case study of Liaoning Province in China) (Tokyo: Kokusai Kenkyu Shogaku Zaidan [Tokyo Foundation, formerly the Global Foundation for Research Scholarship], 1999).

In its two reports on regional internationalization, the Japan Foundation Centre for Global Partnership points out clearly the shift from the US to Asia, particularly China, in the 1990s. See Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership. The Survey Reports on Regional Internationalization and U.S.‐Related Exchange Activities in Japan, Vol. 1 (Tokyo, 1994), pp. 13–15; Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership. The Survey Reports on Regional Internationalization and U.S.‐Related Exchange Activities in Japan, Vol. 2 (Tokyo, 1997), pp. 7–9.

Shimai toshi is a literal translation of ‘sister city’, an American term. The term used in Britain is ‘twin city’ (futago toshi), which is gender neutral. The Japanese favoured the American term, since their first relationship (Nagasaki) was with an American city (St Paul), formed in 1955.

Yoshida notes that for the Chinese side, the term shimai toshi connotes a relationship between senior and junior (shimai means literally ‘older and younger sisters’). The Chinese side prefers the term yuko (friendship), which is gender neutral and conveys a relationship between equals. Yoshida prefers to use the term yukoshimai toshi (friendly sister‐city relationship). See his Chiho jichitai no kokusai kyoryoku (International cooperation of subnational governments) (Tokyo: Nihon Hyoronsha, 2001), p. 58, note 8.

These figures have been taken from the Council of Local Authorities for International Relations, Japanese Local Government International Affiliation Directory 2001 (Tokyo: CLAIR, 2001).

The combined budget of SNGs on sister‐city programmes in 1998 was 8.7 billion yen, which was decreased to 7.9 billion in 1999 and 7.04 billion in 2000. Jichitai Kokusaika Kyokai, Shimai jichitai no katsudo to gaikyo (Activities and status of sister‐city relations) (Tokyo: CLAIR 2002).

Jichitai Kokusaika Kyokai, Shimai jichitai no katsudo to gaikyo.

Nihon Toshi Sentaa (ed.), Toshi Gaiko: jichitai no kokusai koryu senryaku (Municipal diplomacy: subnational government international relations strategy) (Tokyo: Gyosei, 1995), p. 28.

For details of Nagasaki's contacts with China from the 1950s, see Nihon Toshi Sentaa (ed.), Toshi Gaiko: jichitai no kokusai koryu senryaku, pp. 10–31.

A diplomatic row erupted between China and Japan in 1958 in the wake of the Nagasaki flag incident in which a right‐wing youth dragged down a Chinese flag at a Chinese products fair held in a department store in Nagasaki. The relationship at local level was not affected by this incident.

Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership. The Survey Reports on Regional Internationalization and U.S.‐Related Exchange Activities in Japan, Vol. 2, p. 8.

Yoshida, Kokusaitekina jichitai no genjo to tenbo, p. 9.

Yoshida, Chiho jichitai no kokusai kyoryoku, p. 49.

The US has once again taken the top spot in this area. Japan reduced its aid budget by 10 per cent in 2002 and a further cut is not ruled out, while the US has announced it will increase its overseas aid substantially over the next couple of years.

Jichiro Jichiken Chuo Suishin Iinkai, Jichitai no kokusai kyoryoku to jichitai ODA (Subnational governments in international cooperation and local ODA) (Nagano City, Japan: Kenmin Bunka Kaikan, 1995).

See Kaigai Kankyo Kyoryoku Sentaa, ‘Chiho kokyo dantai no kankyo kyoryoku’ (Subnational governments in environmental cooperation), in Nitche kankyo kyoryoku jirei joho shiryo shu: Heisei 11 nendo kankyocho itaku chosa (Documents information on Japan's environmental cooperation: results of the Environment Agency survey commissioned in 2000) (March 2000); Jichitai Kokusai Kyokai, ‘Chihoseifukan ni okeru kokusai kyoryoku’ (International cooperation between subnational governments), in Chugoku no kankyo mondai to chiho jichitai no kokusai kyoryoku (Subnational government international cooperation and China's environmental problems) (CLAIR Report No. 213, June 2001).

For detailed information, see Kaigai Kankyo Kyoryoku Sentaa, ‘Chiho kokyo dantai no kankyo kyoryoku’, pp. 17–20.

This was part of a 1997 agreement by Prime Minister Hashimoto and his Chinese counterpart, Li Peng, supporting programmes to enhance the environment in Chinese cities. Daily Yomiuri, 6 February 2000. For details of the plans for each city, see Yoshida, Chiho jichitai no kokusai kyoryoku, pp. 49–53.

See Jichi Foramu, 461 (February 1998), p. 6, Table 3.

See ‘Heisei 13‐nendo chiho jichitai renkei chosa hokokusho’ (The 2001 survey report on cooperation with SNGs), prepared by a private consultant for JBIC, March 2002, p. 24, Table.