Japan–China Relations of the 1960s

Japan-China relations of the 1960s were jolted by the reality of the "two Chinas". The Ikeda administration, which was advancing a "two Chinas" policy, was trying to get the United States and European countries to persuade the ROC government to accept the reality that its legal standing was limited to the territory under its effective control. The Japanese government, which had been groping for a de facto "two Chinas" policy, was keenly interested in how China-France diplomatic normalization dealt with the Taiwan issue. The chapter explains Japan's domestic politics regarding China and the Republic of China. China's diplomacy toward Japan during that period of the postwar when the two countries did not have diplomatic relations was unique, carried out entirely by Liao Chengzhi under the direct guidance of Zhou Enlai. Furthermore, groups and enterprises with strong anti-establishment leanings within Japan played a central role in Friendship Trade, and this made for extremely politicized trade in a separate sense.