New poll indicates frozen China-Japan public perceptions

China and Japan have increasingly viewed each other as a military threat. According to a recent opinion poll jointly conducted by Japanese non-profit organization Genron NPO and Chinese newspaper China Daily, 64.3 percent of the Japanese respondents expressed concern over China as a military threat, and the percentage of Chinese respondents that perceive Japan as a military threat rose from 53.9 percent last year to 55.2 percent.

More worryingly, the fear of a military conflict is spreading in both countries. Some 53.4 percent of Chinese respondents envisage a future conflict between China and Japan, while 29 percent of the Japanese surveyed believe there is a possibility of military confrontation, a significant increase from 23.7 percent last year.

Since tensions between China and Japan flared in 2012 over the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea, many analysts and scholars have predicted the possibility of a military clash between the two countries. According to the Telegraph, Yan Xuetong, one of China's most influential foreign policy strategists, warned amid the escalating spat after the Japanese government unilaterally "nationalized" the Diaoyu Islands in September 2012, that there was a danger of China and Japan becoming embroiled in a military conflict unless one side or the other backed down. Other analysts believe the world's second- and third- largest economies couldn't afford a war, even a small skirmish.

It's complicated to predict whether a military clash will occur. However, Japan has defined China as one of its potential security menaces and has continued to hype up the "China threat," as shown in its defense white papers in recent years. This adds to the public perception of a military threat from both sides. Some analysts hold that Japan's national strategic goal is containing China's rise, even at the expense of the Sino-Japanese relationship.

In view of a strained bilateral relationship, the rightist Abe administration on one hand claims they are willing to mend fences with China, but on the other, they do not hold back from provoking China over historical and territorial spats.

Currently, China and Japan are at loggerheads, which fuels public negative feeling toward one another. The poll suggests the frozen bilateral ties are difficult to thaw.

Japan inflicted the most painful suffering on the Chinese nation in modern history, a scar that is difficult to forget for China's public. To break the deadlock requires Japan's sincerity and efforts.