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EXPLAINER: What’s behind strained China-Japan relations

FILE - Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, right, poses with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao after they played catch in the gymnasium of Beijing's Diaoyutai State Guesthouse on Dec. 29, 2007. Japan and China on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022, mark the 50th anniversary of the 1972 normalization of their ties. (AP Photo/Greg Baker, Pool, File) FILE - Chinese President Jiang Zemin, left, and Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi toast after signing of youth exchange and technology exchange at the Akasaka Palace state guest house in Tokyo on Nov. 26, 1998. Japan and China on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022, mark the 50th anniversary of the 1972 normalization of their ties. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye, Pool, File) FILE - Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, left, meets with Chinese President Hu Jintao at Beijing's Diaoyutai State Guesthouse on Dec 28, 2007. Japan and China on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022, mark the 50th anniversary of the 1972 normalization of their ties. (AP Photo/Greg Baker, Pool, File) Pandas, named Kang Kang, left, and Lan Lan, right, arrive at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo, Japan, in October 1972. After Lan Lan died in 1979, Tokyo's Ueno Zoo received Huan Huan from China in 1980. Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022, marks the 50th anniversary of a historic communique of normalizing the two countries' relations. (Kyodo News via AP) FILE - Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka, sitting at center left, with Foreign Minister Masayoshi Ohira, far left, and Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai, sitting at right, sign the joint statement to normalize relations between the countries in Beijing on Sept. 29, 1972. Japan and China on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022, mark the 50th anniversary of the 1972 normalization of their ties, but there isn't much of a celebratory mood. (AP Photo, File) FILE - Anti-Japan protesters on disputed islands march near the Japanese Consulate General in Shanghai, China, on Sept. 16, 2012. Japan and China on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022, mark the 50th anniversary of the 1972 normalization of their ties, but there isn't much of a celebratory mood. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File) FILE - Ships of China Marine Surveillance and Japan Coast Guard steam side by side near disputed islands, called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, in the East China Sea, Oct. 25, 2012. Japan and China on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022, mark the 50th anniversary of the 1972 normalization of their ties, but there isn't much of a celebratory mood. Improved ties between Asia's two biggest economies are considered vital to the region's stability and prosperity, but they remain at odds over disputed East China Sea islands and China's growing military and economic assertiveness in the region. (Kyodo News via AP, File) Yasuo Fukuda, former Prime Minister of Japan, speaks during an interview with the Associated Press at his office Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2022, in Tokyo. Fukuda, who is an active proponent of better ties with China, says friction between Japan and China largely stem U.S.-China trade issues. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko) Yasuo Fukuda, former Prime Minister of Japan, speaks during an interview with the Associated Press at his office Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2022, in Tokyo. Fukuda, who is an active proponent of better ties with China, says friction between Japan and China largely stem U.S.-China trade issues. "The question is if global trade works better by excluding China," he said (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko) Yasuo Fukuda, former Prime Minister of Japan, speaks during an interview with the Associated Press at his office Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2022, in Tokyo. Fukuda, who is an active proponent of better ties with China, says friction between Japan and China largely stem U.S.-China trade issues. "The question is if global trade works better by excluding China," he said. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)