Don't read too much into shortened name

Following a regulation on the abbreviated names of hospitals launched by China's National Health and Family Planning Commission, the Beijing-based China-Japan Friendship Hospital is now to be called the China-Japan Hospital, except on official documents or on occasions that require its full official name be used.

Despite the fact that its full name remains unchanged, the guideline's dropping of the word "friendship", has provoked a host of negative online comments from both Chinese and Japanese netizens.

For some of the latter, the shortened name is a signal that Beijing is inclined to "defriend" Tokyo, and they say "friendship" should not have been used in the name of the hospital in the first place. Many Chinese also expressed their concern about the name-changing administrative order.

Such misunderstandings reflect the China-Japan relationship as a whole, and netizens from both sides should not be blamed for linking the change with the state of bilateral relations.

In fact, the new guideline has nothing to do with bilateral ties or politics. For a long time there have been no specific rules regarding the use of shortened names for major hospitals, and all the health authorities have done is bringing the abbreviated names of hospitals, such as the China-Japan Friendship Hospital, in line with new guidelines instead of changing their full titles.

The Peking Union Medical College Hospital, for instance, will be known as the Peking Union Hospital and the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences as the Academy of Medical Sciences.

In fact, shortened names, such as the China-Japan Hospital are commonly used by local residents, and hence the administrative regulations just make the use of this appellation more widely recognized.

The China-Japan Friendship Hospital was a local project established in the 1980s with gratis financial support from the Japanese government, which provided half the funds.

It is both a successful cooperative program and a symbol of the the Sino-Japanese ties.

On the one hand, the China-Japan Hospital reminds Chinese people that they should appreciate Japan's support in the early days of reform and opening-up; on the other hand, its significance to the Beijing-Tokyo ties is still worth noting.

Given the Japanese aggression in the country before the end of World War II, it is important for China to urge Tokyo's rightist forces to relinquish their militarism mentality. The word "friendship" has always been controversial to some Japanese politicians, who prefer to define the bilateral bond as based on mutual interests.

In his first visit to China in 2006, the year that also marked the beginning of his first tenure as Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe proposed that both countries should build a strategically reciprocal relationship, a concept representing pragmatic diplomacy rather than friendship. In stark contrast, the Chinese leadership has often reiterated its friendly stance toward diplomatic relations between China and Japan.

Hence, regarding the aforementioned name-changing regulation, media outlets and people from both nations should neither overreact, nor give up efforts to bring the two countries closer together.

The author Zhou Yongsheng is a professor of Japan studies at China Foreign Affairs University.