| This dissertation focuses on the historiographically missing years of Sino-Japanese-U.S. relations from 1945 to 1952, as well as seeks to promote understanding of the roles of transwar national perception in international relations.; In general, scholars of international affairs have concentrated on state-to-state relations and diplomatic history. Two comprehensive problems emerge here. First, while the roles of national perceptions in influencing international relations have received theoretical attention, their more practical manifestations remain largely unexamined. Secondly, bilateral relationships have of ten been defined—too narrowly—in terms of the state alone. Although states have played a crucial role in shaping the institutional framework of international relations, the actual course of relations between states is of ten determined by each nation's perceptions of the other, collectively constructed and maintained within the particular society. These two factors—the official relations pursued by the state, and the perceptions held by society—crucially shaped, in particular, Sino-Japanese-American relations during the Allied Occupation period. Because popular images in Japan, China and America with regard to each other were by no means monolithic, understanding their range and complexity is essential.; Toward this objective, the issues examined include the formulation of wartime and postwar U.S. policy toward China, Japanese and Chinese reactions to Japan's defeat in World War II, Japanese residents in China and their repatriation, Japanese reparations, Japanese economic reconstruction and Sino-Japanese trade, and Japan's peace treaty with China.; Through the analysis of these issues, the dissertation illuminates what I call the “imaginary settings” underlying the complex geometry of the triangular relationship of Japan, China and the United States in the immediate postwar period. |
