Reconceptualising the Divide: Identity, Memory, and Nationalism in Sino-Japanese Relations

Victor Teo

May 2020 · Cambridge Scholars Publishing

About this ebook

Relations between the People’s Republic of China and Japan are still subject to abrupt and periodic diplomatic confrontations and subtle political antagonisms. Though China and Japan have signed four political instruments, including the 1978 Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Co-operation, and maintain vibrant economic relations, Beijing and Tokyo too-frequently appear to have difficulty getting along. In this new volume, edited by Gerrit Gong and Victor Teo, a leading group of international scholars delineate underlying causes that strain bilateral Sino-Japanese relations and shape the 21st century international system. This book focuses on the “ideational” aspects of the Sino-Japanese relations—an area contemporary policy-makers and diplomats often neglect. Beyond visible interests and political gains, ideational forces including memories, identities, norms synthesize with nationalism and domestic politics to shape the tone and direction of Sino-Japanese relations and, for better or worse, set the trajectories for these two political and economic giants in the future.

About the author

Gerrit Gong is Assistant to the President for Planning and Assessment and Professor of Political Science at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and Senior Associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, DC. Dr Gong’s PhD is from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. Dr Gong’s US government service includes Personal Advisor to the Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, Executive Officer for the official visit of President George H. Bush to the People’s Republic of China, and Special Assistant to two US Ambassadors at the US Embassy in Beijing. Dr Gong has researched and/or taught full or part-time at Oxford University, Georgetown CSIS (Center for Strategic & International Studies), Johns Hopkins SAIS (School of Advanced International Studies), and Brigham Young University.

Victor Teo is Research Assistant Professor with special reference to Sino-Japanese Relations at Department of Japanese Studies, University of Hong Kong. He obtained his PhD in International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science and has taught at the LSE, War Studies Department of Kings College London, The Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.