Japan's Foreign Policy Adjustment Towards China Since Koizumi Cabinet

After entering new Century, The Asia where Japan lies in has been a dynamic, fast-developing region. China which is experiencing its rising is an inevitable element in Japanese foreign policy decision making process. At the first ten years of 21st century, Japanese foreign policy towards China has entered a stage of oscillation. Since Sino-Japan relations fluctuated than ever before, studying Japanese foreign policy adjustment, in this case, will contribution in both theoretical level and practical value.The dissertation adopts a new perspective which began to be named "neoclassical realism" in 1996 to analyze Japanese foreign policy towards China. Neoclassical realism tries to bring certain unit-level variables into analysis to strengthen the explanation power. The article specifically uses related theories and variables of bureaucratic model as the vital part in unit level.Through the examining of Japanese politics from Koizumi to Hatoyama, we could extract the trend of the period that Japanese foreign policy toward China is an ascendant process. Japanese foreign policy not only becomes emphasizing balance between big powers, but also appears a kind of oscillation.Neoclassical realism is appropriate to give a complete analysis relative complicated situation. According to this theory, system level change is vital to the adjustment of Japanese foreign policy toward China, while unit level variables act as a glass placed between systemic change and Japanese foreign policy. The composition of forces of systematic and regime makes Japanese foreign policy shown the trait of sensitivity and duplicity.This dissertation mainly includes four parts, chapter one is an introduction concluding previous research; second part studies the trajectory of foreign policy toward China from the Koizumi Cabinet to Hatoyama Cabinet. Then, the following part explains elaborately the reason of the adjustment. The alteration of relative strength between China and US influence Japanese foreign policy through the unique Japanese regime which characterized as highly fragmented in ideology, organization and decision-making process. Therefore, last part of the article expatiate the influence of the adjustment of Japanese China policy.Asia region has become the hot spots of the world. The orientation of Japanese China policy is the focus of both China and US. Analyzing Japanese strategic intention and adopting effective countermeasure is crucial to the tendency of Sino-Japan relations, and the environment of China's peaceful development...