The University of British Columbia
UBC - A Place of Mind
The University of British Columbia Vancouver campus
Pacific Affairs
  • Issues
    • Current Issue
    • Forthcoming Issue
    • Back Issues
  • Subscriptions
    • Subscribe
    • Policies
    • Publication Dates
  • Submissions
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Policies
    • Submit
  • News
  • About
    • People
    • The Holland Prize
    • Contact
  • Support
    • Advertise
    • Donate
    • Recommend
  • Cart
    shopping_cart

Issues

Current Issue
Forthcoming Issue
Back Issues
Articles
Volume 83 – No. 4

Understanding Fluctuations in Sino-Japanese Relations: To Politicize or De-Politicize the China Issue in the Japanese Diet

Linus Hagström
Swedish Institute of International Affairs, Stockholm, Sweden

Björn Jerdén
Swedish Institute of International Affairs, Stockholm, Sweden

Keywords: Sino-Japanese relations; fluctuations; Japan’s China policy; insecurity; Japanese Diet debate; discourse analysis

DOI: 10.5509/2010834719

  • English Abstract
  • Chinese Abstract
  • French Abstract

 

From the late 1990s to the late 2000s, scholarly literature and media analysis shifted from representing the Sino-Japanese relationship as generally “good,” to portraying it as generally “bad,” and then back to describing it as generally “good” again. This article aims to make sense of what could thus be construed as fluctuations in Sino-Japanese relations and Japan’s China policy, through employing discourse analysis as foreign policy theory. The aim is operationalized by analyzing Japanese China discourse as it has played out in the Diet. The article demonstrates that there is a fault line between a “radical representation,” epitomizing further politicization of a prevalent Japanese sense of insecurity about China, and a “moderate representation,” reflecting de-politicization of the same phenomenon. Furthermore, it shows that in the period examined (a) China has come to be discussed more frequently, and (b) a greater variety of aspects of the relationship have reached the political agenda. Together, these two changes have been conducive in altering the relative position of the two representations. In 2008 the moderate representation was still dominant, but less so than in 1999. The main argument of this article is thus that recent fluctuations in Japan’s China policy-and by implication Sino-Japanese relations-can be understood in terms of an increasingly open Japanese China discourse

理解中日關係的起伏:日本議會對中國的政治化的去政治化

從1990年代末到2000年代末,學術探討和媒體分析對中日關係的表現從普遍認為“良好”轉移到總的來說“不良”,然後又返回到了“良好”。通過使用話語分析理論來研究外交政策,本文試圖理解可以說是不斷起伏的中日關係及日本的中國政策。具體來講,本文試圖分析日本議會關於中國的話語。本文顯示,在一步政治化盛行的日本對中國的不安全感的“激進表現”和將同樣現象去政治化的“溫和的表現”之間存在著一個斷層線。本文進一步顯示,在此期間不僅中國被更頻繁地提及,而且中日關係間的更多方面被提上了政治議程。這兩點變化都有助於改變以上兩種表現之間的相對位置。在2008年,溫和表現還占主流,但到了1999年這一情形就改變了。本文認為,最近日本對中國政策的起伏以及受其影響而波動的中日關係可以說體現了日本關於中國話語的日益開放

Interpréter les fluctuations des relations sino-japonaises: Politiser ou dépolitiser la question chinoise au sein de la Diet japonaise.

Depuis la fin des années 1990 jusqu’au début des années 2000, écrits académiques et analyses médiatiques ont décrit les relations sino-japonaises comme étant généralement bonnes, quant à les décrier par la suite comme étant mauvaises, et en les proclamant comme étant bonnes à nouveau. Cet article vise à comprendre ce qui peut être interprété comme ‘fluctuations’ dans les relations sino-japonaises et dans la politique du Japon envers la Chine, en prenant le discours analytique comme thématique de sa politique étrangère. On capture ainsi l’étendue de ces fluctuations par le biais du discours sino-japonais, tel qu’il se manifeste à la Diet. L’article démontre qu’il y a une ligne de faille entre une “représentation radicale” illustrant plus encore la politisation du sentiment d’insécurité envers la Chine fort répandu au Japon, et une “représentation modérée” reflétant une dépolitisation de ce même phénomène. Par ailleurs, cela démontre que dans la période mentionnée, (a) la Chine devint plus souvent sujet à discussion et(b), les aspects plus divers des relations donnèrent lieu à un projet politique. Ces deux changements ont ensemble conduit à modifier la position relative de ces deux représentations. En 2008, les représentations modérées étaient encore prépondérantes, bien que moindre qu’en1999. L’argument central de cet article veut que les fluctuations récentes de la politique japonaise envers la Chine, et par implications les relations sino-japonaises, peuvent être interprétées comme étant un discours sino-japonais de plus en plus débattu.

Read Article on IngentaConnect requires institutional subscription

Purchase Article through Pacific Affairs
  • Complete the form below to submit a purchase request. After entering "Submit," you will be taken to UBC's ePayments system. A PDF copy will be sent in 2-3 business days.
  • Outside Canada prices are in US dollars. Conversion to Canadian dollars will be applied automatically.
  • $0.00
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Purchase Article through Pacific Affairs
  • Complete the form below to submit a purchase request. After entering "Submit," you will be taken to UBC's ePayments system. A PDF copy will be sent in 2-3 business days.
  • Outside Canada prices are in US dollars. Conversion to Canadian dollars will be applied automatically.
  • $0.00
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Purchase Article through Pacific Affairs
  • Complete the form below to submit a purchase request. After entering "Submit," you will be taken to UBC's ePayments system. A PDF copy will be sent in 2-3 business days.
  • Outside Canada prices are in US dollars. Conversion to Canadian dollars will be applied automatically.
  • $0.00
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Pacific Affairs

An International Review of Asia and the Pacific

School of Public Policy and Global Affairs

Contact Us

We acknowledge that the UBC Vancouver campus is situated on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam).

Pacific Affairs
Vancouver Campus
376-1855 West Mall
Vancouver, BC Canada V6T 1Z2
Tel 604 822 6508
Fax 604 822 9452
Find us on
  
Back to top
The University of British Columbia
  • Emergency Procedures |
  • Terms of Use |
  • Copyright |
  • Accessibility