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This year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Japan. Next year would be the 25 anniversary of the signing of the Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty. Both of these events deserve big celebrations for their vital importance. Judging from the twists and turns as well as the features of development, we can divide the bilateral relations in the past thirty years into three phases.
Phase I begins in 1972 when diplomatic relations were established till the end of the 1980's. It could be labeled as a bilateral "honeymoon" period. Among many factors that were conducive to the formulation of this close tie, there were three most fundamental ones generally agreed upon as "three pillars" in academic circles both at home an abroad. First comes the pillar of strategic cooperation. In the 1970's, the general pattern of international strategic posture could be characterized as "Soviet offensive and U. S. defensive". With its invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, the Soviet Union's vicious pursuance of hegemony had reached a historic high, thus constituting the biggest threat to the world peace at the time. As both China and Japan had territorial disputes with the Soviet Union, opposing its hegemony thus became a common basis for the two, which naturally constituted a strategic foundation for bilateral cooperation, or an effective "security apparatus". This anti-Soviet Union strategic cooperation was nothing exclusive for Sino-Japanese relations. In fact, it was also the most important condition for Sino-US relations and Sino-US-Japan relations. The second pillar is the positive influence resulted from historical problems. The majority of Japanese politicians at that time were still occupied by a sense of guilt stemming from Japan's aggression to China, and therefore were very much determined to make efforts in facilitating the development of Sino-Japan relations by establishing formal diplomatic ties. This mentality had profound influence on people of various kinds throughout Japan. As a result, a large number of people with insights from political, financial and economic circles began to actively engage in the endeavor of...