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