On The San Francisco Peace Treaty With Japan And Its East Asian International Relations

After World War II, the relationship between the United States and USSR underwent a gradual change from one of wartime allies to another of postwar adversaries. In order to contain Socialism Camp which was headed by USSR, the United States continuously strengthened its geopolitical construction. San Francisco Treaty of Peace with Japan was one of the important steps by the US to construct the line of defense along the coast of the west-Pacific Ocean and to carry out the strategy of Cold War. The birth of the Treaty resulted from the then international environment, the US demand to carry out the strategy of the Cold War and Japan's desideration to recover its status as a sovereignty. The treaty left out of account the concerns of Asian countries including PRC which suffered the worst invasion by Japan, suppressed the USSR, therefore, U.S.A managed to reach the aim of containing USSR and PRC and constructing the defensive frontier of the Cold War in East Asia.The approach of historical descriptions in combination with analyses is adopted in this thesis, which takes roots in and develops itself on the basis of the research fruits that were acquired by former researchers. In the thesis, the author, by putting the treaty back into the whole development history of the Cold War and reviewing the setting and process when the treaty was signed, makes a tentative analysis of the influence the treaty has been exerting on the international relations in East Asia. The treaty, signed under the setting of Cold War, has promoted the establishment of the Cold War situation in East Asia, making East Asia a beachhead of confrontation between the East and the West; Japan picked up the chariot of U.S.A and formed the special US-Japan relation, resulting in the estrangement and opposition in Sino-Japan and Sino-America relations; USSR arid Japan disputed continuously with each other over the four northern islands; Japan and South Korea has been at issue for a long time over war compensation and territory; the treaty legalized the doctrine of Taiwan's undefined status, providing the legal foundation for America to interfere in China's internal affairs concerning Taiwan, and foreshadowed the turbulence of the Cross-strait situation. Whether when the treaty was signed or now, the signature of the treaty has and will exert an important and far-reaching influence on the international relations in East Asia.