Sino-Japanese Power Politics: Might, Money and Minds

ISBN-13: 9781137595539 / Angielski / Twarda / 2016 / 146 str.

Giulio Pugliese; Aurelio Insisa

Opis

This book is about Japan-China power politics in the military, economic and propaganda domains. The post-2012 standoff over the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands has unveiled the antagonistic quality to Sino-Japanese relations, with an important addition: a massive information war that has cemented the two states rivalry. Under the Xi and Abe administrations, China and Japan insisted on their moral position as benign and peaceful powers, and portrayed the neighbor as an aggressive revisionist. By highlighting great power rivalry, this study makes a theoretical contribution in favor of the power politics behind Sino-Japanese identities. The work is multidisciplinary in spirit and aims to speak both to academics and to general readers who might be curious of understanding this fascinating --if worrisome-- facet of Sino-Japanese relations. In turn, the assessment of the diplomatic, economic and identity clash between the world s second and third wealthiest states provides a window in understanding the international politics of the Asia-Pacific in the early 21^st Century. This book is an invaluable resource for scholars, Area Studies and Political Science students and policymakers alike."

Spis treści

Foreword

Acknowledgements

List of Abbreviations

1 Introduction: Back to the Future? China and Japan’s Drumbeats in the Year of History

China commemorates World War II: the Victory Day parade

Japan commemorates World War II: the Abe Statement

The Senkaku/Diaoyu standoff and state-led antagonistic narratives

2 The Power Politics behind Sino-Japanese Identity Politics

The Senkaku/Diaoyu standoff, mirror of Sino-Japanese power transition

Neo-Classical Realism and the Realpolitik of Sino-Japanese identity politics

A Sino-Japanese propaganda dilemma and propaganda race

3   The Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands Dispute: Mirror of Shifting Axes of Power

A fistful of rocks: Japan, China and the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands dispute

Neo-Classical Realism and post-2012 China-Japan power politics

4 Might: The Importance of Balancing in Sino-Japanese Relations

External balancing: Japan and China’s military-diplomatic forays

China’s constabulary internal balancing: the case of the State Oceanic Administration

Japan’s internal balancing: Abe eyes China and ‘Great Power’ status

China’s post-November 2014 tactical détente and the South China Sea nexus

5 Money: Economic Rivalry and Economic Statecraft in Sino-Japanese Relations

China’s economic statecraft between short-term retaliations, geopolitics and political leverage

China’s infrastructure competition with Japan and the quest for political leverage and regional primacy

Abenomics between domestic stability and Japan’s economic statecraft

6 Minds: China’s Propaganda Offensive and Japan’s Response

The ‘feedback mechanism’ of Chinese propaganda

A propaganda race: mirroring processes on both sides

The ‘feedback mechanism’ at work – the case of Chinese propaganda in Australia

2015-16 – Enduring rivalry and the crystallization of the propaganda dimension?

7 Conclusions: Is Sino-Japanese Antagonism Here to Stay?

Selected Bibliography

Index

O autorze

Giulio Pugliese is Lecturer in War Studies with a focus on East Asian Security, at King’s College London, UK. He has completed his PhD work at the University of Cambridge, and holds an MA degree (Honors and Distinction) in International Economics from the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, USA.

Aurelio Insisa covers Taiwanese affairs for Asia Maior, the Italian think tank devoted to current Asian affairs. He completed his PhD work in History at The University of Hong Kong.

Blurb

This book is about Japan-China power politics in the military, economic and propaganda domains. The post-2012 standoff over the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands has unveiled the antagonistic quality to Sino-Japanese relations, with an important addition: a massive information war that has cemented the two states’ rivalry. Under the Xi and Abe administrations, China and Japan insisted on their moral position as benign and peaceful powers, and portrayed the neighbor as an aggressive revisionist. By highlighting great power rivalry, this study makes a theoretical contribution in favor of the power politics behind Sino-Japanese identities. The work is multidisciplinary in spirit and aims to speak both to academics and to general readers who might be curious of understanding this fascinating if worrisome facet of Sino-Japanese relations. In turn, the assessment of the diplomatic, economic and identity clash between the world’s second and third wealthiest states provides a window in understanding the international politics of the Asia-Pacific in the early 21^st Century. This book is an invaluable resource for scholars, Area Studies and Political Science students and policymakers alike.

Giulio Pugliese is Lecturer in War Studies with a focus on East Asian Security, at King’s College London. 

Aurelio Insisa covers Taiwanese affairs for Asia Maior, the Italian think tank devoted to current Asian affairs.