Many Koreans might have been taken aback by Chinese President Xi Jinping’s heartfelt gestures of friendship to a visiting Japanese delegation in Beijing last week.

Xi began his address to about 3,000 Japanese delegates ― including politicians and entrepreneurs ― by citing a quote from Confucius about the pleasure of greeting a friend coming from a distant place. He allotted a large part of the speech to emphasizing the importance of friendly relations between the two countries, though he reiterated that any attempt to distort Japan’s pre-1945 history of aggression would not be accepted by the people of China.

Before taking the podium at the event held at the Great Hall of the People, the Chinese leader asked the chief Japanese delegate to convey his regard to Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who sent a personal letter to him. Last month, Xi held amicable talks with Abe in a departure from his rigidness shown during their first meeting in November.

Koreans might well be perplexed with Xi’s increasingly courteous way of handling Japan. It was less than a year ago that the Chinese leader tried to invoke the memory of China and Korea joining hands to fight against Japan’s past aggressions during his trip to Seoul. President Park Geun-hye gave no welcoming address to a Japanese delegation that visited Seoul in February.

Xi’s conciliatory attitude may partly be aimed at laying the ground for Abe’s attendance at a massive military parade China is to stage in September to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. More fundamentally, it seems to reflect China’s perception that its offensives against Japan over territorial and historical matters in recent years have resulted in prodding the Abe administration to strengthen ties with the U.S.

Abe has used growing concerns among the Japanese public over a rising China’s heavy-handed approach not only to consolidate Tokyo’s alliance with Washington but to enable Japan to assume a more conspicuous military role abroad. It may be based on this reflection that Beijing has recently adjusted its strategy for handling Tokyo.

For his part, Abe is pushing South Korea into China’s fold by glossing over Japan’s wartime atrocities, including the sexual enslavement of Korean and other Asian women for imperial Japanese soldiers. It is certainly in Japan’s strategic interest to deepen partnership with South Korea and pull it out of China’s sphere of influence. But Abe’s refusal to face up to Japan’s past history in the course of building a “nation Japanese people can be proud of” is preventing Tokyo from further bolstering its geopolitical position.

What is described as Abe’s “selective amnesia” of historical facts cannot be accepted by Koreans who suffered under Japan’s harsh colonial rule from 1910-45. True, Seoul has recently sought to decouple disputes with Tokyo over historical and territorial issues from practical cooperation in security and economic areas. But it still remains reluctant to arrange for the first summit between Park and Abe without the Japanese leader’s correction of his historical revisionism.

As some pundits note, this persistent historical row leaves room for China’s attempt to drive a wedge between South Korea and Japan. Though Seoul is not determined to side with Beijing, it has unnecessarily caused suspicion among U.S. and Japanese officials that it is increasingly tilted toward China. The Abe administration has even given the impression of amplifying this suspicion to lead the U.S. to put more weight on its alliance with Japan.

What we are seeing now is that South Korea, China and Japan are all trapped in the paradox of a contradictory diplomacy that has inadvertently helped others at the expense of their own strategic interests. To avoid this, the three countries need to have a clear understanding of their strategic priorities and take an accurate measurement of long-term effects of their activities and rhetoric.

They should have a candid dialogue that addresses concerns they have toward each other while strengthening cooperation on matters of mutual interest.

Enhancing trilateral collaboration in areas that will benefit all sides may help break the framework of bilateral conflicts. In this regard, it is heartening that the three countries are moving to facilitate cooperation in the fields of tourism, culture and the environment while encouraging exchanges between their youths. These efforts should help them circumvent or overcome diplomatic and political rows to achieve common prosperity. South Korea is positioned to play an active role in working out ways to boost the three-way cooperation in a substantial manner.

In his address to the Japanese delegation, Xi said that a neighbor could be chosen but a neighboring country could not. His insightful remark pointed to the need for neighboring countries to cultivate friendship and make the most of their geographic destiny.

Xi might have made a better argument by citing another ancient Chinese saying, that one can move others by using his forte not to gain an upper hand over them but to bring them benefits.

By Kim Kyung-ho 

Kim Kyung-ho is an editorial writer for The Korea Herald. He can be reached at khkim@heraldcorp.com. ― Ed.