Research On Japan's Postwar Compensation Diplomacy In Southeast Asia

After Treaty of Peace with Japan coming into force,Japan,the vanquished country,exploited the war compensation as a diplomatic mean to reduce the burden of compensation,develop its economy and return to the international community as early as possible.This strategy targeted Southeast Asia,in the name of compensation,but actually for the purpose of economic expansion.Japan not only solved the problem of compensation in low price,but also successfully opened up the Southeast Asian market,injecting great vitality into Japanese economy,even to a great extent,improving the national image of postwar Japan.War compensation should be the obligation of the defeated country,but in fact Japan haggled with the victors over this issue and took advantage of it.It is unprecedented in the history of modern international relations.It is significant and meaningful to figure out the driving factors promoting the compensation diplomacy.Neoclassical realism has opened up a compromise way to scientifically research a state's foreign policy:on the one hand,it adheres to the principle that the structure of international system is "the first moving" of one country's behavior;on the other hand,it advocates bringing the ignored internal factors back to research agenda,to make up for the deficiency of systemic theory in explaining certain state' s behavior.Using this new thinking as reference,this article will research Japan's compensation diplomacy via three levels:the international system level,national level and elite level.The variable of structure of international system is the core independent variable affecting national behavior.The variables of national and elite level are both intermediate variables.The variables of international,national and elite level promoted compensation diplomacy.In terms of international system level,the differentiation of the wartime alliance,the adjustment of American Far East strategy and the power vacuum in Southeast Asia simultaneously formulated a prerequisite or background for Japan' s compensation diplomacy.From the national level,if Japan wanted to follow American strategy and restore the relationship with Southeast Asian countries,it must solve the outstanding compensation problems,in order to improve the diplomatic environment and expand its economic survival space.From elite level,the Japanese financial circles had played an important role in the development of compensation diplomacy.Besides,Japanese decision makers also had a consensus on the issue,making compensation diplomacy a continuous policy proceeding smoothly.The influence of Japan's compensation diplomacy in Southeast Asia is extensive and profound.It' was a double-edged sword to Southeast Asian countries.On the one hand,Japanese capital,technology and equipment factually benefited the recovery of Southeast Asian nations,but on the other hand it strengthened the dependence on Japan's economy of these nations.Japan was the biggest winner,it successfully got rid of the isolated diplomatic environment,significantly improve national image,and ensure the large overseas market and investment destination.In the short term,compensation diplomacy played a complementary role in America 's Far East strategy,and consolidated the western anti-communist front.In the long run,some dialogue mechanism between Japan and Southeast Asian countries during the process of compensation to some extent laid the foundation of East Asia cooperation mechanism afterwards.