Sino-Japanese Relations in a Trilateral Context Origins of Misperception

This book explains the increasingly turbulent Sino–Japanese relations since the 2000s by innovatively investigating the formation mechanism of mutual misperception deeply rooted in China-Japan-U.S. trilateral structural dynamics. The political and security relationship has been increasingly deteriorating against the high interdependency between the world’s second and third largest economies. More ironically, both sides have also shown the intent and made efforts to improve bilateral ties. The author systematically conducts a focused comparison of the evolution of the Sino-Japanese mutual perceptions and policies toward one another during the past decade and a half. Empirically, Yun Zhang closely examines five case studies that provide insights to IR students and scholars and policy makers on how misperception and mistrust have formed, replicated, and intensified.

1. The Theoretical Basis and Analysis Framework.- 2. China’s Perception and Policy toward Japan in the 2000s.- 3. Japan’s Perception and Policy toward China in the 2000s.- 4. The Negative Turn in Mutual Perception in 2010.- 5. The Tragedy of the Replication of Misperception.- 6. The Intensification of Political and Intellectual Confrontation since 2012.- 7. Conclusion.

Dr. Yun Zhang is Associate Professor at National Niigata University, Japan and is Fellow at the Global Governance Studies Center of Peking University, China. He has served as a visiting scholar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), USA. Dr. Zhang has authored four monographs and many papers in English, Chinese, and Japanese academic journals.