Assessing the People's Diplomacy and Its Impacts on the US-Japan Security Alliance

• Autores: Tao Peng
• Localización: Historia Actual Online, ISSN-e 1696-2060, Nº. 7, 2005, págs. 67-81
• Idioma: inglés
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo (pdf)
• Resumen

  • For years, in regard to the East Asia cold war and the Chinese foreign policy, scholars have focused more on the Sino-American confrontation or tough Sino-Soviet relations but ignored China's policy toward Japan. Actually, different from its tough policy toward the United States, the Chinese Japan policy during the cold war was largely flexible and soft, which was typically shown in its People's Diplomacy with emphasis on non-governmental contacts. This paper not only discusses the origins and development of this new diplomatic approach but also explores its impacts on Japan and the US-Japan security alliance. Based on Chinese, American, and Japanese sources recently available, it argues that the People's Diplomacy, with its soft tone and great flexibility, effectively undermined the US-Japan cold war security alliance.

    For years, in regard to the East Asia cold war and the Chinese foreign policy, scholars have focused more on the Sino-American confrontation or tough Sino-Soviet relations but ignored China's policy toward Japan. Actually, different from its tough policy toward the United States, the Chinese Japan policy during the cold war was largely flexible and soft, which was typically shown in its People's Diplomacy with emphasis on non-governmental contacts. This paper not only discusses the origins and development of this new diplomatic approach but also explores its impacts on Japan and the US-Japan security alliance. Based on Chinese, American, and Japanese sources recently available, it argues that the People's Diplomacy, with its soft tone and great flexibility, effectively undermined the US-Japan cold war security alliance.