BEIJING OLYMPICS MARGINALLY IMPROVED ATTITUDES,

C O N F I D E N T I A L TOKYO 002884 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/16/2018 TAGS: PREL PGOV CH JA SUBJECT: BEIJING OLYMPICS MARGINALLY IMPROVED ATTITUDES, BUT SERIOUS DOUBTS REMAIN Classified By: Ambassador J. Thomas Schieffer, reasons 1.4 (b, d). ¶1. (C) Summary: The Beijing Olympics were well viewed in Japan and helped to showcase for the Japanese China's ongoing modernization and global integration. The Olympics also solidified for the majority of Japanese already deeply suspicious of China and its intentions the view that the PRC is an ascendant and totalitarian regime. End Summary. ¶2. (C) In a Yomiuri-Gallup poll from last year on Japanese security threat perceptions, an overwhelming 74% of Japanese considered China to be untrustworthy, a six-point increase from a poll taken in 2006. Only 16% said that they could "trust" China, a five-point drop. Reflected in these numbers, as well as in Embassy Tokyo's ongoing conversations with policymakers, opinion leaders and average citizens, are deep concerns here about China's growing political influence and economic rivalry in Asia, its arms buildup and intentions towards Taiwan, and the safety of its food and product exports. ¶3. (C) The 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing received broad coverage and unusual examination in Japan. Hiroyuki Akita, a China hand and senior staff writer for the Nikkei Shimbun, told Embassy Tokyo that the Japanese public closely followed the Games, given that the event took place in a neighboring country and that the host city was under intense international scrutiny. In general, the Japanese media portrayed the Games as "more than just a sporting competition" and that, while outlets devoted roughly 70 percent of coverage to athletic events, a significant portion -- the remaining 30 percent -- of broadcast and print focused on social issues such as human rights, religious freedom, and treatment of ethnic minorities in Tibet and Xinjiang. In this way, he added, coverage differed greatly from previous Games, including Sydney and Athens, where domestic media concentrated more than 90 percent on locally popular sports, such as judo and volleyball. ¶4. (C) This year's coverage, Akita explained, helped Japanese viewers, including key opinion-makers, gain a clearer understanding of China's ethnic diversity, "as well as Beijing's apparent intolerance of such diversity." In a separate meeting, Aoyama Gakuin University Professor Seichiro Takagi noted that media coverage of the protest-ridden torch relays prior to the Games heightened Japanese awareness of the Tibetan cause and exposed Japan's relative lack of formal pro-Tibetan political lobbying channels. Both Akita and Takagi asserted that coverage of Beijing's crackdown on protesters, restrictions on foreign reporters, and ability to harness resources for the much-acclaimed Opening and Closing Ceremonies confirmed Japanese perceptions of Beijing as a totalitarian regime. Reflecting further, Akita claimed that authoritarian rule had also helped quell any latent anti-Japanese sentiment during the Games and, indirectly, led some Japanese to marvel at the warm reception of the athletes. ¶5. (C) Officials from MOFA's China Division did not think local views toward China had changed, but admitted that the ceremonies showcased the country's primary resource, its people, to astonishing effect. Expectations among Japanese opinion-makers of China's global role and positions changed little as a result of the Olympic Games, these contacts argued. Akita further noted that most of Japan's China watchers already saw the PRC as ascendant in most realms, including political, economic, and military areas. Opinion-makers, however, continue to disagree on the extent to which China's advancement will result in a "benign China," a "strong, but threatening China," or an "unstable China," Akita added. Expounding along the same thread, Tagaki noted that the Games merely reinforced what Japanese decision-makers already thought about the country, no matter what their perspectives might have been pre-Olympics. SCHIEFFER