ABSTRACT
The contrast between Japanese flattery of China and contempt for China is as great an influence on Sino-Japanese relations as changing national calculations of political and economic interests. In advanced democracies with high rates of literacy and strong, independent media institutions, the formulation and conduct of foreign policy is not a neat, relatively technical activity performed by government bodies. The causes of emotional factors in the conduct of foreign policy are collective memories and the value differences among nations. The reporters were given clear hints that China had been generous toward Japan and it was Japan's turn to return the favor by agreeing to China's terms on anti-hegemony. China's educational deficiencies inherited from the Cultural Revolution stood in the way of China's absorbing much of the technology Japan and the West had to offer. Japan was no longer responding with contrition or silence to charges of reviving militarism, unfair trade practices, a uniquely barbarous imperialist past, or inadequate defense expenditures.
