ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the Sino-American rapprochement and its impact on Japan. The US abrogation of the Mutual Defense Treaty with Taiwan made Japanese wonder which defense commitment would next be scrapped. A report that the US government was to examine the effects of ending the defense agreement with Japan was highly discomforting. Japan’s close alignment with the US had been a source of many postwar benefits. But for Japan, it has also been a factor which reduced autonomy in diplomacy. The historic visit to the People’s Republic of China established the strategic structure which preceded and influenced US-China normalization. China’s leap from the defunct treaty with the USSR to a triangular relationship with Japan and the US was a major decision intended to serve China’s own national interests. The Chinese shift from decades of strident anti-US foreign policy to one of increasing trade, diplomatic, and cultural intercourse reflected domestic changes within the communist regime.
