流产的自卫队任务
来源：日本《朝日新闻》
政府撤回使用空中自卫队给中国四川地震幸存者运送帐篷和其他救援物资的计划。中国公众对这个计划的反弹促使政府作出这个决定。政府改用民用机执行任务。
在中国使用自卫队飞机本可以成为双边关系划时代的事件。但中国民众对日本皇军侵华历史的反感仍然很普遍。
如果中国民众为了地震灾民，放下他们对日本战时历史的感受，接受拟议的自卫队运输任务，两国之间的关系本将进一步加深。然而，中国公众对自卫队任务的意见分歧严重，看看互联网上的反应就知道了。北京领导人的评论也反映人们对这个问题的看法并不一致。
历史伤口的愈合缓慢。中国仍然有人不欢迎挂着太阳旗的飞机飞越他们的国土，哪怕那是为了救灾。这并不奇怪。靠近地震灾区的重庆在战争期间多次成为日军空袭的目标。
政府留意到中国情绪，明智地放弃这一任务。尽管如此，东京和北京严肃考虑使用自卫队飞机在中国从事救灾活动，尽管考虑时间很短，但已经相当引人注目。鉴于两国之间传统上棘手的关系，在最近以前，那样的计划是不可想象的。如果不是因为双边关系显著提高（以日中最高领袖互访为标志），就不会出现这种想法。
中国主席胡锦涛在地震前不久访问日本，他和日本首相福田康夫同意在救灾以及联合国维和任务方面探索双边合作的可能性。两国还开始军事交流。在去年11月，一艘中国军舰首次访日。在6月，海上自卫队护卫舰将回访中国。派自卫队前往中国救灾的计划就是以两国国防当局交流加强为背景。因此两国政府更加要避免自卫队运输计划的取消妨碍日中互动的拓展。
两国政府应该继续努力推动两国之间的有益交流，建立基于互信的双边关系。然而，日本政府处理此事的方式有点问题。鉴于中国的情况，东京在推动这项计划时应该更加谨慎。政府试图推动自卫队的历史性派遣，可能操之过急。
日本如今应该把重点放在尽力帮助中国应对地震引起的危机。地面自卫队似乎不愿意向中国地震幸存者提供大量帐篷。但日本应该给这个国家提供尽可能多的救援物资。地方政府的紧急供应储备也应该出动。
日本可以在很多领域给中国提供有效援助，包括医疗服务，疾病预防以及临时房屋的建造。
日本和中国之间有很多棘手的问题，包括一些关系到国家安全和食品安全的痛苦争论。但日本应该本着帮助一个身陷麻烦的邻居的精神作出回应。
英文原文地址：http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200806020053.html
英文原文：EDITORIAL: Aborted SDF mission
06/02/2008
The government has scuttled a plan to use Air Self-Defense Force aircraft to fly tents and other relief supplies to China for survivors of the May 12 earthquake in Sichuan province. The decision was prompted by growing signs of a public backlash against the plan in China. The government will use civilian chartered aircraft for the task instead.
The use of SDF aircraft in China would have marked a landmark event in bilateral relations. But ill-feelings still abound among Chinese people over the Imperial Japanese Army's invasion of China.
If the Chinese people had accepted the proposed SDF transport operation, setting aside their feelings about Japan's wartime past for the sake of quake victims, ties between the two countries would have deepened further.
However, public opinion in China about the SDF mission was sharply divided, as indicated by reactions to Japanese news reports on the plan posted on the Internet. Remarks by Chinese leaders in Beijing also reflected conflicting feelings about the issue.
Wounds of history are slow to heal. It is hardly surprising that there are still people in China who are not ready to welcome an aircraft bearing the Hinomaru national flag flying over their land, even for disaster relief activity.
Chongqing, a city close to the quake-ravaged area, was repeatedly targeted for air raids by Japanese forces during the war.
The government, in heeding Chinese sentiment, was correct to abandon the mission.
Even so, the fact that both Tokyo and Beijing seriously considered use of SDF aircraft for quake relief activity in China, even briefly, is quite notable. Until recently, it would have been unimaginable, given the traditional prickly relationship between the two countries.
The idea would not have emerged had it not been for the marked improvement in the bilateral ties in the past few years, symbolized by reciprocal visits by top Japanese and Chinese leaders.
During his visit to Japan shortly before the quake, Chinese President Hu Jintao agreed with Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda to explore possibilities of bilateral cooperation in the areas of disaster relief and U.N. peacekeeping operations.
The two countries also started exchanges between their respective militaries. In November, a Chinese military vessel visited Japan for the first time.
In June, a Maritime Self-Defense Force escort ship is scheduled to make a reciprocal visit to China. The proposal to dispatch SDF aircraft to China for the relief supplies transport mission came against the backdrop of growing exchanges between the defense authorities of the two countries.
This makes it all the more imperative for the two governments to prevent the cancellation of the SDF transport plan from hampering the expansion of interactions between Japan and China.
Both governments should continue their efforts to promote beneficial exchanges between them so as to build bilateral relations based on mutual trust. There was, however, something troubling about the way the Japanese government handled the matter. Given the situation in China, Tokyo should have trodden more carefully in proceeding with the plan. The government may have moved too fast in trying to make the historic SDF dispatch happen.
What Japan should focus on now is to do all it can to help China deal with the crisis triggered by the earthquake. The Ground SDF appears to be reluctant to supply a large number of its tents for Chinese quake survivors. But Japan should provide the maximum possible amount of relief supplies to the country. Emergency reserves of such supplies at local governments should also be used.
Japan can provide effective assistance to China in various areas, including medical services, disease prevention and the construction of temporary housing.
There are many intractable issues between Japan and China, including some bitter disputes concerning national security and food safety. But Japan should respond to the situation in the spirit of helping a neighbor in trouble.
--The Asahi Shimbun, May 31(IHT/Asahi: June 2,2008)