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Full-Text Articles in International Relations
Identity Politics And Foreign Policy: Taiwan’S Relations With China And Japan, 1895-2012, Yinan He
Identity Politics And Foreign Policy: Taiwan’S Relations With China And Japan, 1895-2012, Yinan He
Yinan He
Nation is a product of self-other separation and exclusion. Divergent, or even competing, narratives about the national Self and Other advanced by various nationalist entrepreneurs can shape conflicting policy preferences regarding the foreign country in question. The two primary Others for defining Taiwan's identity, China and Japan, have been frequently set against one another in its political discourses as elites wage a pitched battle over whom the Taiwanese are and where their future lies. This was evident during Japanese colonization in 1895-1945, the rule by the KMT regime after the war, and post-democratization period. For the new KMT government led …
Comparing Postwar (West) German-Polish And Sino-Japanese Reconciliation: A Bridge Too Far?, Yinan He
Comparing Postwar (West) German-Polish And Sino-Japanese Reconciliation: A Bridge Too Far?, Yinan He
Yinan He
The article argues that the harmonisation of national memories facilitates genuine reconciliation, while memory divergence resulting from national mythmaking hampers reconciliation. After WWII, Sino–Japanese and West German–Polish relations were antagonised by the Cold War structure, and pernicious myths prevailed in national collective memory. Then China and Japan brushed aside historical legacy for immediate diplomatic normalisation, but their reconciliation was impeded by elite mythmaking practices. Since the 1970s West Germany and Poland have de-mythified war history and engaged in historical settlement, paving the way for deep reconciliation after the Cold War
Competing Narratives, Identity Politics, And Cross-Strait Reconciliation, Yinan He
Competing Narratives, Identity Politics, And Cross-Strait Reconciliation, Yinan He
Yinan He
After nearly 60 years of political confrontation, hopes for cross-Taiwan Strait reconciliation have run high since the traditionally pro-unification Nationalist Party (the Kuomingtang, KMT) returned to power in Taiwan in May 2008. However, obstacles to reconciliation remain daunting, due to a fundamental disjuncture between the ideological beliefs of the two sides, in particular because China and Taiwan still lack a shared memory of Taiwanese history that can serve as the foundation for their reconciliation. This article examines a wide variety of sources from Taiwan and China over recent decades. It illustrates their conspicuous memory gap over the history of the …
Ripe For Cooperation Or Rivalry? Commerce, Realpolitik, And War Memory In Contemporary Sino-Japanese Relations, Yinan He
Yinan He
Sino-Japanese political relations, fraught with disputes and tension during the Koizumi years, only began to recover after Abe came to power. This article investigates the driving forces shaping recent and future bilateral relations. Using evidence from the Koizumi era, I argue that 1) bilateral commercial links prove a weak stabilizing factor for political relations; 2) the current distribution of power between China and Japan does not dictate their strategic rivalry, but they may still treat each other as rivals if they perceive the danger of longterm power transition and mutual hostile intent; 3) the frequent flare-up of bilateral history disputes …
History, Chinese Nationalism And The Emerging Sino-Japanese Conflict, Yinan He
History, Chinese Nationalism And The Emerging Sino-Japanese Conflict, Yinan He
Yinan He
Anti-Japanese popular nationalism is rising high in China today. Little evidence to date proves that it is officially orchestrated. Nonetheless, Chinese popular nationalism still has deep roots in the state’s history propaganda which has implanted pernicious myths in the national collective memory. Fueling mistrust and exacerbating a mutual threat perception, popular nationalism could be a catalyst for future Sino – Japanese conflict over the Taiwan problem, island disputes, and maritime resource competition. The increasingly liberalized but often biased Chinese media, the role of nationalist sub-elites, and the government’s accommodation have all contributed to the strength of anti-Japanese nationalism, which cannot …
Remembering And Forgetting The War: Elite Mythmaking, Mass Reaction, And Sino-Japanese Relations, 1950-2006, Yinan He
Yinan He
Ruling elites often make pernicious national myths for instrumental purposes, creating divergent historical memories of the same events in different countries. But they tend to exploit international history disputes only when they feel insecure domestically. Societal reactions to elite mythmaking, reflected in radicalized public opinion, can reinforce history disputes. During the 1950s–1970s, China avoided history disputes with Japan to focus on geostrategic interests. Only from the early 1980s did domestic political incentives motivate Beijing to attack Japanese historical memory and promote assertive nationalism through patriotic history propaganda, which radicalized Chinese popular views about Japan. Media highlighting of Japan’s historical revisionism …