Sino-Japanese Economic Relations: Interdependence and Conflict

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In the vicissitudes of Sino-Japanese relations, economic factors have played an especially vital role. With a relatively small territory and limited natural resources, Japan has viewed China as the ideal economic base for its ambitious empire building since at least the Meiji Reform period (1868–1912). After its victory in the first Sino-Japanese War (1894– 1895), Japan acquired from China an indemnity of 200 million silver taels, which helped bankroll Japan’s industrialization. It also took possession of the island of Taiwan, which became Japan’s agricultural supplier. Japan’s defeat in the second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945), however, temporarily dislodged its imperialist ambitions. But with American economic aid, Japan soon regained its status as an economic power, reaching its apex in the early 1980s.