ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses military and geostrategic issues from the point of view of military cooperation and the current shifts in the regional and global balance of power. Sino-Japanese politico-security relations are an inextricable part of the broader four-power Asian balance that exists between the Soviet Union, the United States, China and Japan. In December 1987 the Japanese government approved a budget which again exceeded the 1 % limit and the Chinese media reported that Japan's defence plan far surpassed its defence needs. Both China and Japan shape their own defence postures and their security relations with each other according to the strategic balance between the two superpowers throughout East and South-East Asia. Throughout the 1980s both Japan and China have been backing detente in Korea, seeking to avoid confrontation in their relations with North and South respectively, and cautiously expanding cultural and economic links.
