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China Japan
Japan is by far the most important to China of the
nonsuperpower developed nations. Among the reasons for this are
geographical proximity and historical and cultural ties, China's
perception of Japan as a possible resurgent threat, Japan's close
relations with the United States since the end of World War II, and
Japan's role as the third-ranking industrialized power in the
world. Japan's invasion and occupation of parts of China in the
1930s was a major component of the devastation China underwent
during the "century of shame and humiliation." After 1949 Chinese
relations with Japan changed several times, from hostility and an
absence of contact to cordiality and extremely close cooperation in
many fields. One recurring Chinese concern in Sino-Japanese
relations has been the potential remilitarization of Japan.
At the time of the founding of the People's Republic, Japan was
defeated and Japanese military power dismantled, but China
continued to view Japan as a potential threat because of the United
States presence there. The Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship,
Alliance, and Mutual Assistance included the provision that each
side would protect the other from an attack by "Japan or any state
allied with it," and China undoubtedly viewed with alarm Japan's
role as the principal United States base during the Korean War. At
the same time, however, China in the 1950s began a policy of
attempting to influence Japan through trade, "people's diplomacy,"
contacts with Japanese opposition political parties, and through
applying pressure on Tokyo to sever ties with Taipei. Relations
deteriorated in the late 1950s when Chinese pressure tactics
escalated. After the Sino-Soviet break, economic necessity caused
China to reconsider and revitalize trade ties with Japan.
Sino-Japanese ties declined again during the Cultural
Revolution, and the decline was further exacerbated by Japan's
growing strength and independence from the United States in the
late 1960s. China was especially concerned that Japan might
remilitarize to compensate for the reduced United States military
presence in Asia brought about under President Nixon. After the
beginning of Sino-American rapprochement in 1971, however, China's
policy toward Japan immediately became more flexible. By 1972 Japan
and China had established diplomatic relations and agreed to
conclude a separate peace treaty. The negotiations for the peace
treaty were protracted and, by the time it was concluded in 1978,
China's preoccupation with the Soviet threat led to the inclusion
of an "antihegemony" statement. In fewer than three decades, China
had signed an explicitly anti-Japanese treaty with the Soviet Union
and a treaty having an anti-Soviet component with Japan.
From the 1970s into the 1980s, economic relations were the
centerpiece of relations between China and Japan. Japan has been
China's top trading partner since the 1960s. Despite concern in the
late 1980s over a trade imbalance, the volume of Sino-Japanese
trade showed no sign of declining. Relations suffered a setback in
1979 and 1980, when China canceled or modified overly ambitious
plans made in the late 1970s to import large quantities of Japanese
technology, the best-known example involving the Baoshan iron and
steel complex in Shanghai. Lower expectations on both sides seemed
to have created a more realistic economic and technological
partnership by the late 1980s.
Chinese relations with Japan during the 1980s were generally
close and cordial. Tension erupted periodically, however, over
trade and technology issues, Chinese concern over potential
Japanese military resurgence, and controversy regarding Japan's
relations with Taiwan, especially Beijing's concern that Tokyo was
pursuing a "two Chinas" policy. China joined other Asian nations in
criticizing Japanese history textbooks that deemphasized past
Japanese aggression, claiming that the distortion was evidence of
the rise of militarism in Japan. By the late 1980s, despite
occasional outbreaks of tension, the two governments held regular
consultations, high-level leaders frequently exchanged visits,
Chinese and Japanese military leaders had begun contacts, and many
Chinese and Japanese students and tourists traveled back and forth.
Data as of July 1987
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