Japan 's Policy Towards Africa After The Cold War

Out of economic considerations, Japan opened the door of African diplomacy with economic diplomacy as the ground-breaking point in the 60’s. After the 1973 oil crisis, Africa’s position increased significantly in Japan’s multiple-range energy strategy. Especially in the 1980 s, Japan put forward the "political power" strategy, striving to be a "political power" in the world. Based on this strategy, Japan’s African diplomacy has entered a new period, Japan is no longer limited to simply acquire African resources and expand Africa’s market, what’s more, with the ODA(official development assistance) as the basic principle, Japan established an official leading mechanism, combined with private communication, through the Asian-African Conference and Tokyo International Conference on African Development(TICAD), carrying out a full range of Japan-Africa diplomacy in safety, energy, economy and culture.After the Cold war, with the development of multi-polarization and economic globalization, African countries gained political stability, economic growth and international status, Africa has once again become the battling center of global influential powers. Japan as an economic power, is also unwilling to fall behind, re-recognize the value of Africa strategy from a new height in the post-war period, make new adjustments especially since the new century, make a stride in Japan-Africa relationship.In 2013, Japan successfully held the fifth session of Tokyo International Conference on African Development, the conference adopted the "Yokohama declaration: 2013" and "Yokohama action plan: 2013-2017", described the new blueprint for Japan-Africa relationship. Prime minister Abe Shinzo visited the East African country of Djibouti shortly after his inauguration, and visited four African countries in January 2014. Japan’s emphasis on Africa also makes Japan-Africa relationship one of the hotspots in Japan’s foreign policy.In the "Foreign blue book" of 2013, Japan put forward a new "three principles of Africa diplomacy".(1) Japan will make a contribution to African stability and peace(2) expand economic assistance and trade investment(3) with the environmental problems as the starting point, Japan will continue to promote the active foreign policy in the aspect of improving the national soft power. As we can see from the "three diplomatic principles", Japan will be in cooperation with Africa in security, economy and culture. Japan’s Africa policy not only influences Japan and African countries, but also has an impact on China, France and Germany that have traditional interests and influences in Africa. Therefore, this thesis begins with the post-cold war period, try to make a comb and summary of Japan’s Africa policy and Japan-Africa relations, which can be a reference for China to develop more reasonable policies in Sino-Africa relations and to better develop Sino-Africa relations.