ABSTRACT
Chapter 2, “Adaptation to, and Discord with, US-Soviet Cooperation: Japanese Policy toward China in the Early Sato Administration 1964-1968,” discusses foreign policy during the first half of the Sato Eisaku administration. In contrast to Prime Minister Ikeda Hayato’s somewhat abrasive and slightly harebrained personality, Sato was characterized by his search for balance. When presented with two conflicting opinions, Sato had a strong tendency to search for the middle road. Sato rarely considered the Sino-Soviet relationship to be monolithic. Sato believed that the best diplomatic scenario would be to distinguish China from the Soviet Union and to maintain Japan’s distance from the Soviet Union. However, contrary to his wish, Sato joined the Japan-US-USSR affiliation, taking sides with the US-Soviet détente and the isolation of the People’s Republic of China.
