Sino-Japanese Relations: Neither Confrontation Nor Partnership

Abstract

Throughout much of modern history, the way that China and Japan have related to one another has fundamentally shaped their respective regional roles and the contours of the East Asian international system. The Meiji Restoration, spawned by the Western intrusion, marked the beginning of Japan’s effort to reconstruct a new national identity that was situated somewhere between Asia and the West. From the late Tokugawa period to the Meiji (1868–1912) and Taisho (1912–1926) periods through to the 1940s, the intellectual discourse centred upon how to reconstruct Japan’s relationship with China and how Japan could emerge from the shadow of the crumbling Chinese empire. The critical issue for Japanese intellectuals was how to reconstruct China and Confucianism in a way that justified the devolution of regional leadership to Japan, ‘the new possessor and authority of the spirit or essence of toyo’ (East Asia).1 KeywordsPrime MinisterBilateral TradeRegional CooperationChinese LeaderDevelopment Assistance CommitteeThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.