Japanese-Chinese Relations

During the 1950’s right after World War II relations between Japan and China went from hostile to cooperative; however the People’s Republic of China or PRC still viewed Japan as a threat due to the United States presence in Japan. There is however a feeling of uncertainty between the two powers, China fears Japan may remilitarize and Japan fears China’s economic power and military power. However Japan pushed all doubts aside when they signed a peace treaty with the PRC and established diplomatic relations with the Taiwanese. By the mid 1950’s the PRC and the Japanese were exchanging cultural, labor, and business delegations. However in 1958 suspended its trade with the Japanese, feeling that trade was ineffective in achieving political goals, the PRC continued to request that the Japanese not be hostile toward China, and not partake in any conspiracy to split China up which may become present, and to over-all not get in the way of any efforts to restore normal relations between China and Japan. In the end of the 1950’s economic necessity caused the PRC to change its mind and restart trade with Japan.
In the 1960’s the Soviet Union took away soviet experts from the PRC, this resulted in an economic decline and left the PRC with no choice but to make more official relations with Japan. Later in the 1960’s a man named Tatsunosuke Takashi, a representative for the Japanese Liberal Democratic Party or LDP went to the PRC and signed a document that furthered trade between the two nations; however protests from the ROC of Republic of China caused Japan to shelve further deferred payments the PRC reacted by downgrading trade with the Japanese and mounted propaganda attacks against the Japanese as well. PRC and Japanese trade declined further more during Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution and was further pushed as the Japanese grew in strength and became more independent from the US. The Japanese growth in strength concerned the PRC however the Japanese wished to move forward and not dwell on WWII.
In late 1971 there was discussion between China and Japan of restoring diplomatic trade relations, and by mid 1972 a man named Tanaka Kakuei became the new Japanese prime minister and he assumed a normalization of Chinese and Japanese relations. This normalization was furthered in 1972 when Nixon visited China and encouraged their newly restored relations. Nixon’s visit resulted in the singing of a joint statement which established the PRC and Japanese relations, and the Japanese even agreed to most of the PRC’s requests. The death of Mao Zedong in 1976 resulted in an expected Japanese investment in the Chinese economy, and it brought economic reform to the PRC. In 1978 there was debate on who should get a certain piece of territory and it seemed that this would put an end to the talk of a peace treaty being singed, but restraints on both sides led to The Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and the People's Republic of China being signed on August 12 of 1978.
The 1980’s was considered the Golden Age for Chinese and Japanese relations because they made considerable progress. Japans dedicated involvement with the modernization of the PRC’s economy encouraged peaceful development between the PRC and the Japanese. The PRC and Japan adopted complementary policies towards the Soviet Union in which they isolated the Soviet Union and its allies. The PRC and Japanese also moderated the behavior of Korea and reduced tensions between North and South Korea. However for the rest of the 1980’s there was multiple counts where tensions between the PRC and the Japanese grew high, in 1982 the Japanese tried to make new textbooks with revisions to the Chinese and Japanese war of 1931-1945, and in 1985 Chinese officials were unhappy with the Japanese prime ministers’ visit to a shrine which commemorates some war criminals. Also the removal of the CPC‘s general secretary Hu Yaobang in 1987 harmed Chinese and Japanese relations
because Hu Yaobang made several personal relationships with Japanese leaders. In 1989 the PRC had crackdowns on pro-democracy demonstrations, which scared many nations away, however the Japanese decided to continue normal trade with the PRC, yet followed in the United States footsteps with a limited trade with China.
In the 1990’s not much happened between the PRC and Japan except for a decline in trade, which picked up again at the new millennium when the PRC joined the World Trade Organization or WTO.
By 2001 China’s international trade moved up the 6th largest, and was expected to be the 5th just behind Japan who was at number 4. In 2005 the Japanese and the Americans had a joint statement which issued” the peaceful resolution concerning the Taiwan strait”, this however angered the PRC, they felt that Japan was interfering which hurt relations between the two nations and in 2005 anti-Japanese demonstrations even took place. However good relations were eventually re-established between the two super powers with the help of the prime ministers from both nations. In 2008 the Chinese president Hu Jintao was the first Chinese President in over a decade to be formally invited to Japan, while there representatives for Japan and China discussed increased cooperation between the two nations; this resulted in another joint statement being made. In 2010 China overtook Japan for the spot of 2nd largest economy in the world. In September of 2010 a Chinese fishing boat crashed into two Japanese coast guards, sparking tensions between the two nations. Today the two nations still do trade and are on fairly good terms with one another.