Every second Chinese thinks that China will go to war with Japan within the next five years, as per a recent survey, in an ominous sign of nuclear warfare in the east asian region, not far from India.
In fact, many Japanese too believe that a war is inevitable, as per the annual Japan-China Public Opinion Poll, conducted jointly by newspaper China Daily and Japanese NGO, Genron.
53.4% of Chinese believe that the two nations will engage in war, and many predict it could happen "within the next five years", while 29% of Japanese respondents also had similar views, as per the poll conducted in July and August this year with more than 1,000 respondents in each country.
80% of the Japanese public and 70% of the Chinese public expressed deep concern over the deteriorating national sentiments towards each other's nation, calling it an "undesirable situation".
The strained relations between the two countries, especially over hostilities in the East China sea, have reflected in the survey, with 84% of Japanese respondents believing that Japan-China relations were "bad". While a majority 67% of Chinese also thought relations between the two nations were 'bad', there was some positivity given that the figure had come down from a staggering 90% last year.
The overall public impression of China in Japan is 'unfavourable' among 90% of Japanese, with most citing reasons that "China's actions are incompatible with international rules" and that "Chinese actions to secure resource, energy and food look selfish".
The reverse trend also shows a grim picture, with 80% Chinese viewing Japan as 'unfavourable', mainly because of Japanese claim of the Diaoyu islands and the lack of apology from Japan over the history of invasion of China.
The overall sentiments brought out by the study show that anger against China is growing in Japan, while in China the hostility with Japan among the public has marginally reduced from last year though it still remains dangerously high.
Territorial disputes and military arrogance have led the relations between the two nations to worsen over the years, as both nations continue to lay claims to islands and energy reserves in the east China Sea, and each seeing the other's military prowess as a threat.
The survey comes a little after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called for a reinterpretation of Japan's Pacifist post-war constitution, reportedly, planning to allow Japanese troops to fight with allies abroad.
In the last few months, airplanes of both nations flying close to the other's territory have raised concerns and fuelled anger on both sides.
Despite increasing national hostilities, the majority of the public on both sides (70% of Japanese and 60% of Chinese) still consider China-Japan bilateral relationship as important.
