T he question of how to maintain balanced relations with China and the United States will be Japan's major diplomatic challenge in the coming decades, and the recent nuclear test by North Korea may in fact provide a good chance for Tokyo and Beijing to cement their ties.
Those were among the observations made by five veteran journalists from Germany who took part in a symposium at Keidanren Kaikan in Tokyo on Oct. 20.
China figured prominently in the discussion, with the participants citing it as one of the common challenges facing Japan and Germany -- both of which achieved miraculous growth after their defeat in World War II, similarly stagnated in the 1990s and are today weighing the implications of globalization.