Interest Cognition-Strategic Interaction-Feedback Assessment: Analysis of the Evolutionary Logic of Sino-Japanese Relations

Abstract

Sino-Japanese relations is an important and complicated bilateral relationship in Asian-Pacific region. The two countries are highly interdependent, but existing contradictions and competitions among many areas. It’s a healthy bilateral relationship that promotes the development of China and Japan as well as regional stability. The specific “strategic basis” of Sino-Japanese relations lays a solid foundation for the stability and development of Sino-Japanese relations. Whether this foundation is solid or not, it completely depends on the consistency/inclusiveness extent of the cognition on core national interests and its strategic interaction and feedback assessment. Therefore, interest cognition, strategic interaction and feedback assessment are three elements to determine the evolution of Sino-Japanese relations. The three elements constitute an interactive logic loop, presenting distinct three stages of Sino-Japanese relations since normalization. The author takes the interactions of above three elements as analysis tool, and focuses on elucidating internal mechanism of the first two development stages of Sino-Japanese relations evolution, so as to explore the problems and roots among Sino-Japanese relations since 2012 and make brief analysis on the probability of reshaping the strategic basis of Sino-Japanese relations “struck by Donald John Trump”.