Middle Kingdom and Empire of the Rising Sun: Sino-Japanese Relations, Past and Present by June Teufel Dreyer, and: Understanding Japan-China Relations: Theories and Issues by Ming Wan (review)

Observers of Japan-China relations have watched the relationship deteriorate almost continually over the last 15 years (at least) because of territorial and historical disputes. The two books under review attempt to explain why it is that the Japanese and Chinese just can't seem to get along despite increasing economic and interpersonal exchange. June Teufel Dreyer's history of the relationship argues that contemporary problems are the result of the refusal of the Chinese and Japanese to treat each other as equals that dates back to the very earliest days of the relationship. Ming Wan's book focuses on the period since 2006 and the inability of Japanese and Chinese leaders to successfully manage conflicts of interest and identity between the two nations. The works are informative guides to understanding the most important events and issues as well as the intractability of the main sources of tension in the relationship.

Dreyer argues that contemporary tensions in the Sino-Japanese relationship are "merely symptoms" of "the unwillingness of either China or Japan to accept the other as an equal, and the refusal of either China or Japan to accept a position of inferiority to the other" that dates back to at least the seventh century (p. 3). Through most of their history, geography and relative lack of interest kept the resentment engendered by this competition for status from developing into enmity or conflict. This isolation ended in the modern period, however, and the Japanese and Chinese were forced to interact with one another under the rules of sovereign equality imposed by the Westphalian state system. Combined with the fact that Japan adapted much more rapidly to this new international system and was clearly more powerful than China in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, this led to repeated conflict. Today, Japan and China are both powerful at the same time and face each other as rivals competing for raw materials, markets, and prestige. In such a situation, the continued refusal to accept an equal relationship poses a danger to peace and security: "Unless China and Japan can learn to co-exist, either as co-equals or with one accepting the primacy of the other, the stability of both regional and global systems will be jeopardized" (p. 4).

Though it begins in the seventh century, the book focuses heavily on the contemporary relationship. The entire pre-1945 period is treated in the first two chapters. This is followed by five chapters on the period from 1945 to the present and three topical chapters covering economic relations, military relations, and Taiwan. Dreyer is not the first to point out the importance of hierarchy and status in the Sino-Japanese relationship or the fact that both China and Japan are strong at the same time for the first time in their history.¹ There is also always a risk of reading contemporary tensions into the distant past. Dreyer's point, however, is well argued in the first two chapters in which she marshals compelling evidence of mutual feelings of superiority and resentment. As the book moves into the postwar period, however, the argument seems to lose its focus. Dreyer certainly includes numerous instances of Chinese and Japanese feeling disrespected and resentful at not being treated as equals, but these examples do not seem to be explicitly or consistently tied to the larger argument. The book becomes a fairly straightforward account of the relationship since 1945, albeit one that is impressively comprehensive. No review could do justice to the range of issues and controversies Dreyer treats.

It would have been interesting to see the argument carried through the book more consistently, especially since...