The Policy Stances Of United States On Japan’s Historical Standpoint Issues

Japan’s historical standpoint issues have emerged soon since the just ending of World War II. To ensure the sole dominance over Japan, United States has responded to this phenomenon negatively and sluggishly. Then, the outbreak of the Cold War and the soaring strategic significance of Japan to US in East Asia have contributed to the reconciliation between US and the right-wing forces in Japan. The Mid-to-Late 1990 s has witnessed the striking rise of Japan’s economy as well as its historical standpoint issues. The anti-Japanese sentiments and historical memories merged in American society during the escalation of tangled economic frictions between two countries. However, the policymakers and elites in US chose to maintain relative restraint on these issues at that time. The negative effects of Japan’s historical issues on stability of East Asia have been increasingly salient at the beginning of 21 century. United States has been intervening in Japan’s historical standpoint issues with increasing frequencies and limited degrees.The policy stances of United States on Japan’s historical standpoint issues are consequences of interactions among three prior bottom lines of tolerance and five great restrictions. The three prior bottom lines of tolerance refer to that, the escalation of Japan’s historical standpoint issues would never:(1) disrupt American strategic deployment in East Asia;(2) involve strategic mistrust between America and Japan;(3) challenge Americans’ basic values and international consensus. United States will not stay its hand if these three bottom lines were offended. Meanwhile, there are five great restrictions greatly restricting the frequencies and degrees of interventions from America in Japan’s historical issues, which includes:(1) strategic interests based on U.S.-Japan alliance;(2) the different positions hold by different political powers in US;(3) the bilateral historical issues between America and Japan;(4) Americans’ prejudices upon nationalism in East Asia;(5) Japan’s foreign publicities and “West-Centrism” in global historical issues.There are divergences and also possibilities for more consensuses between China and US on Japan’s historical standpoint issues. China should improve its policies’ foresight and pertinence based on systematic plans. Moreover, China should try to secure Americans’ understanding and support through more diverse publicities. And more active attitude regarding international academic studies should also be adopted by China based on advancement of domestic academic studies in related fields.