The Impact Of Soka Gakkai On Japan-China Diplomatic Relations:1949-1972

This paper aims to explore the role of Soka Gakkai,the Japanese Buddhist organization,in postwar Japan-China relations.After the World War II,Japanese government was not able to directly contact and interact with the Chinese government due to the influence of the U.S government.Therefore,in 1950's,private sectors and non-governmental organizations,such as Soka Gakkai,were the agent of Japan-China diplomacy.This fact is further examined by the literature of Japan-China diplomatic history as well as the record of an interpreter of the Japan-China inter-governmental negotiations.This paper also investigates the diplomatic restoration proposal by Daisaku Ikeda announced at the Soka Gakkai Student Division General Meeting held in 1968.After World War II,Japanese diplomacy was regulated by the U.S.because Japanese government was under the control of the U.S.government.For example,the U.S.government amended the Constitution of Japan.The Cold War started around this time.The U.S.is a capitalist country while the Soviet Union is a communist country.Similarly,Japan is a capitalist country while China is a communist country.These differences were one of the causes of a conflict between Japan and China.Furthermore,in the 1940s,there was a fight between the Communist Party of China and the Chinese Nationalist Party.In the end,the Communist Party of China won and the Chinese Nationalist Party moved to Taiwan,which later created the "two China" problem.The U.S.and Japan recognized Taiwan as an "independent country".This is another reason why there was no diplomatic relations between Japan and China.Considering this situation,Zhou Enlai,the Prime Minister of China,encouraged the diplomatic relationship initiated by the private organizations.The concrete method is to start the private diplomacy between Japan and China.In the 1960s,some Japanese diet members wishing to restore diplomatic relations with China visited Beijing.One of them was Kenzo Matsumura,a member of the Liberal Democratic Party.When Matsumura interviewed the Prime Minister Zhou Enlai,he introduced Soka Gakkai and suggested Zhou to contact with this organization for the friendship between Japan and China.According to this suggest,Zhou ordered Chinese politicians to investigate Soka Gakkai,and the Diplomatic Association published one book about this Buddhist organization.However,Zhou was not satisfied with this book because it was written based on the insufficient information from the Japanese Communist Party and scholars.Zhou instructed Sun Ping Hua(later becomes the Chairman of the China-Japan Friendship Association)to directly interact with the executive of the Soka Gakkai.In the 1960s,Chinese news reporters began to stay in Japan.One of the reporters was called Liu De You,who was acquainted with Sawako Ariyoshi,a very famous female writer in Japan.Ariyoshi knew Daisaku Ikeda,the president of Soka Gakkai.In June 1966,Ariyoshi suggested Liu to organize a meeting with Soka Gakkai executives.He consulted about this meeting with Sun,and Sun was very glad to this opportunity.This is how the Chinese reporters based in Japan and the Soka Gakkai executives finally met each other.On September 8,1968,at the Soka Gakkai 11th Meeting of the Student Affairs General Assembly,the President Ikeda announced the proposal aiming to restore the diplomatic relations between Japan and China.On September 9,Liu translated Ikeda's proposal into Chinese and sent it to Zhou,and he highly praised Ikeda' s proposal.On March 11,1970,Ikeda met.with Kenzo Matsumura,who suggested Ikeda to go to China together with him.However,as it was in the middle of the Cultural Revolution,Ikeda introduced the Komei party he established to Matsumura.The Komei party visited China in 1971 and 1972.The restration of Japan-China diplomatic relations was finally realized in September 1972.In conclusion,because Soka Gakkai has members everywhere in Japan,including all generations and various occupations,China decided to interact and engage with Soka Gakkai.The existence of Soka Gakkai achieved the recovery of diplomatic relations between Japan and China.