The tension over the Diaoyu Islands between China and Japan has severely affected Japan's exports to China, and this has raised much concern with many Japanese enterprises. Some say that the Japanese Government's tough stance is sabotaging all their efforts in business with China.
China is Japan's main importing and exporting market. As most Japan's enterprises make their profit in their overseas market, the conflict between China and Japan has sparked widespread worries among Japanese businessmen. Many of them hope relations would return to normal soon.
Suzuki Shigeruhiro, a Japanese businessman, said, "I like China and our company has made a good profit in China. It's located in Shanghai, the employees are hired from there. I'm always grateful for all this. I don't understand why there's dispute over the islands. I think it's the Japanese politician's levity that led to it."
Meanwhile, Japanese automakers including Toyota and Nissan are cutting back production in China, the world's biggest car market.
Japan's tourism industry is also badly shrinking. All Nippon Airways announced that about 40,000 seats on the Japan-China routes have been cancelled during September to November.
Shinichiro Ito, CEO of All Nippon Airways, said, "The situation with the travelling routes are very grim. But we are not cutting flights, instead, we use smaller planes to tackle the problem."
To break the economic stalemate, many Japanese delegations have arrived in Beijing at the invitation of the Chinese side.
Shinichiro Shiranishi, Director General of Japan-China Society, said, "I've been to China more than 600 times, but this time I'm very nervous. I hope we can have sincere dialogue with China."
Many of the Japanese companies in China have shut their businesses down temporarily in the wake of anti-Japan protests in the past two weeks. Those affected range from retailers to supermarkets, and also ferry companies. (CNTV.cn September 28, 2012) |