Lyu, Yaodong

Abstract: The adjustment of the Abe administration’s foreign policy on China from tension toward détente was achieved through the combination of internal and external factors such as the China School within the Japanese ruling coalition, Japan’s business community and US economic protectionism. Starting from the promotion of bilateral interaction by means of the China-Japan Ruling Party Exchange Mechanism to discussing the feasibility of China-Japan economic and trade cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and influenced by US trade protectionism in particular, the Abe administration decided to implement foreign policy that would ease tensions between China and Japan, claiming that China-Japan relations “has entered the era of coordination from that of competition.” The adjustment of the Abe administration’s China policy is still tactical, and it remains uncertain whether Japan can adhere to the spirit of the four political documents signed between China and Japan and implement the four-point principled agreement they reached. Full text available here.