Issues in Japan’s China Policy

192 Pages·1978·19.101 MB·English

by  Wolf Mendl (auth.)

ISSUES IN JAPAN'S CHINA POLICY
The Royal Institute of International Affairs is an unofficial body which
promotes the scientific study of international questions and does not
express opinions of its own. The opinions expressed in this publication
are the responsibility of the author.
The Institute and its Research Committee are grateful for the com
ments and suggestions made by Professor Gerald L. Curtis, Professor R. P.
Dore, and Dr D. C. Wilson, who were asked to review the manuscript
of this book.
Also by Wolf Mendl
DETERRENCE AND PERSUASION : FRENCH NUCLEAR ARMAMENT IN THE
CONTEXT OF NATIONAL POLICY, 1945-1969
PROPHETS AND RECONCILERS : REFLECTIONS ON THE QUAKER PEACE
TESTIMONY
ISSUES IN JAPAN'S
CHINA POLICY
WolfMendl
Palgrave Macmillan
© Royal Institute of International Affairs 1978
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1978 978-0-333-23253-8
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
without permission
First published 1978 by
THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
London and Basingstoke
Associated companies in Delhi
Dublin Hong Kong Johannesburg Lagos
Melbourne New York Singapore Tokyo
ISBN 978-1-349-03582-3 ISBN 978-1-349-03580-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-03580-9
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Mendl, Wolf
Issues in Japan's China policy
1. Japan-Foreign relations-China 2. China
Foreign relations-Japan
I. Title II. Royal Institute of International
Affairs
327.52'051 DS849.C6
This book is sold subject
to the standard conditions
of the Net Book Agreement
To Takako
Red or white, China remains our next-door neighbor.
Geography and economic laws will, I believe, prevail in
the long run over any ideological differences and artificial
trade barriers.
Shigeru Yoshida, 'Japan and the
Crisis in Asia', Foreign Affairs,
January 1951, p. 179
Contents
Preface and Acknowledgements
IX
Abbreviations and Note on Japanese Names Xlll
Map XIV
1 JAPAN'S CHINA POLICY 1945-1971 1
The Years of Readjustment 1945-1949 2
Crystallization of the Issues in Japan's China Policy
1949-1952 6
Cycle I: 1952-1958 17
Cycle II: 1958-1965 19
Cycle III: 1965-1971 24
~~ ~
2 CHINA ISSUES AFTER TWENTY YEARS: 1971 32
Trade 33
Taiwan 39
Security 43
China in Domestic Politics 44
Conclusion 52
Notes 54
3 THE DIPLOMATIC REVOLUTION OF 1971-1972
AND SUBSEQUENT POLICY 57
The Movement towards Normalization July 1971 to
September 1972 58
Normalization 64
The Development of Policy 1972-1976 68
Conclusion 77
Notes 77
viii Contents
4 ASPECTS OF THE CHINA PROBLEM IN THE LATE
1970s 82
Economic and Commercial Relations 82
Bilateral Political Issues 87
China in Japan's Relations with Third Countries 92
China in Domestic Politics 99
Notes 102
5 THE OUTLOOK FOR JAPAN'S RELATIONS WITH
CHINA 105
The Future Importance of Specific Issues 106
The Determinants of Japanese Policy 117
Conclusion 122
Notes 124
TABLES 127
I Japan's Trade with China 1952-1976 127
II Total Japan-China Trade and L-T(MT) and Friendly
Trade 1963-1971 128
III Exchange of Persons between Japan and China 1949-
1973 129
IV Japan's Trade with Taiwan 1952-1976 130
V Japan's Exports and Imports by Principal Areas 1968-
1976 131
APPENDIXES 133
A Exchange of letters between the Japanese Prime
Minister, Mr Shigeru Yoshida, and Mr John Foster
Dulles, regarding Japan's policy towards China 133
B Treaty of Peace between Japan and Nationalist China,
Taipei, 28 April 1952 135
C Unified View of the Foreign Ministry concerning the
China Problem 1964 140
D Joint Statement of the Government of the People's
Republic of China and the Government of Japan 142
E Comparative Chronology of Events Affecting Japan's
China Policy 1949-1976 145
Bibliographical Note 164
Index 171
Preface and
Acknowledgements
WHEN Mr Tanaka followed President Nixon to Peking in 1972, his
visit was surrounded by much speculation over the future course of
Japan's foreign policy. The establishment of American relations with
Peking opened a new era in east Asia. A diplomatic revolution had ended
twenty-two years of American-Chinese confrontation. It was the climax
of a series of developments which included the Soviet-American detente,
the Sino-Soviet conflict, and the greater self-assertion of some of the
west European states-France under de Gaulle and West Germany
with its Ostpolitik. The international system was no longer dominated
by the bipolarity of Soviet-American confrontation and a multipolar
system had taken its place.
This was the widely held view of the early 1970s and Japan was
counted among the poles or centres of influence in the new world order.
How was this economic giant going to declare its interest and what
was it going to do? The assumption was that, until then, Japan had
had no foreign policy worthy of that description, that its policy had
been to do as the United States did and to grow rich behind the pro
tective shield of American military power in east Asia. It was often
said that Japan now had to make choices, as if it had not made any
choices since 1945. The same thing is still being said, by Japanese as
much as outsiders.
To talk in these days of a country's 'choices', is to invite a great many
objections. It is generally agreed that what passes as the foreign policy
of a state is essentially the product of the interaction of many factors,
among which perceptions of the national interest, the impact of the
international environment, and the cyclical relationship between one
country's actions and another's reactions are the most important.
Each of these factors raises further questions. For example, what do
we mean by perceptions of the national interest? Do they not presup
pose a perception of the nation? And whose perceptions are we talking
about? We should certainly get a distorted view if we confined ourselves