ABSTRACT
Japan’s policy towards foreign trade in the post-war period has reconciled the necessities of diplomacy with the pursuit of economic self-interest in a highly effective manner. Thus while Japan’s diplomatic position has required close economic relations with the United States, limited official trade contacts with China and formal adherence to the principles of multilateralism and liberalism in world trade, in practice, while benefiting from liberal trade policies in Europe and America (particularly in the 1960s) Japan’s own liberalisation of trade was very slow prior to the 1970s, and the foreign exchange market still remains subject to numerous restrictions. A gap between formal policy and behaviour is also evident in Japan’s relations with China. This is illustrated in the 1960s and early 1970s by the rapid growth of mutual trade in spite of the absence of either diplomatic relations or formal inter-governmental arrangements for controlling the size and nature of trading relations.
