Anti-Japanese Popular Nationalism and China’s Approach Towards Japan amid Sino-Japanese Political Tension, 2001–2006

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between anti-Japanese popular nationalism and China’s approach towards Japan amid Sino-Japanese political tension from 2001 to mid-2006. Among various factors that may affect the relationship, this research focuses on the interaction between the government and the public expressions of anti-Japanese nationalism in China. Throughout most of this period, Sino-Japanese political relations were seriously strained by historical, territorial and other controversial issues, which stirred up anti-Japanese sentiment in China. However, it was only between 2003 and the spring of 2005 that mass anti-Japanese protests were allowed, or at least tolerated, by the Chinese authorities and played a role in Beijing’s handling of Japan-related controversies. The paper examines China’s domestic political situation during the leadership transition from the third to fourth generation of leaders, which it claims drove the Chinese government’s lenient response to popular anti-Japanese protests and enhanced the prospects for popular nationalism to affect the government’s approach towards Japan.