The Patterns of Japanese Relations with China, 1952-1982

POSTWAR RELATIONS between Japan and the People's Republic of China are studied primarily from a Japanese point of view. Three broad periods are identified: (1) the period of Japanese public support of Western policy toward China but private contrition toward China because of Japan's wartime actions there, 1949-71; (2) the period of euphoria, of so-called "China fever," from Nixon's overture to China to China's unilateral cancellation of major Japanese industrial projects, 1971-81; and (3) the school textbook controversy of 1982 concerning Japan's treatment of its own history of imperialism in East Asia. Two major conclusions emerge: (1) between the mid-1950s and the late-1970s, the P.R.C. was able to manipulate Japanese public opinion emotionally and to take political advantage of Japan in their bilateral relations; but (2) despite this manipulation, Japan's postwar China policy has been subtle, sophisticated, and largely successful.