Study On The Adjustment And Motivation Of Japan’s South China Sea Policy Since 2009

In recent years,China has risen rapidly and its comprehensive national strength has improved steadily.In 2010,China overtook Japan to become the world’s second largest economy.From the perspective of Japan’s cognition,China’s rise is that challenges outweigh opportunities.The historical relations and geographical contradictions between China and Japan interact.Among them,the South China Sea issue has always been a major topic in China Japan relations.Although Japan is not a party to the South China Sea issue,it has been involved in the South China Sea for a long time.For China and Japan,the South China Sea is an important area with multiple interests,and it is also an important part of Japan’s foreign policy.From the end of the cold war to 2009,Japan appeared more as a mediator or even a neutral bystander on the South China Sea issue,and its actions were more cautious and restrained.However,after 2009,with China becoming more and more important in the international pattern of East Asia,and its comprehensive national strength and regional influence catching up with Japan,Japan’s South China Sea policy has also undergone major changes,with a significant increase in attention to the South China Sea and an increasing intensity of intervention in China’s South China Sea affairs.The fundamental goal of its involvement in the South China Sea is to limit China’s influence and action in the South China Sea.Its role in the South China Sea issue is more like a troublemaker outside the region.At home,Japan continues to break free from the shackles of the system and tries its best to amend the Constitution and the self defense force law;Internationally,it actively cooperates with the actions of the United States in the South China Sea.It also uses diplomatic occasions and international public opinion to expand its influence and continuously deepen cooperation with relevant countries in the South China Sea.The motivation behind this policy adjustment is thought-provoking and worthy of our in-depth discussion.Neoclassical Realism combines the system level with the domestic level,which can better analyze the motivation of a country’s foreign policy transformation.From the perspective of "Neoclassical Realism",this paper takes the changes of the Asia Pacific pattern,,Japan and the United States,and the policy changes of ASEAN and relevant countries as independent variables,and takes the state social relationship(including public cognition,political rightism and nationalism),leader image(leader character and leader’s cognition of national interests)as intermediary variables,By combing and analyzing the evolution of Japan’s South China Sea policy around 2009,this paper analyzes the motivation of Japan’s South China Sea Policy Transformation Based on the idea of "policy adjustment under the intervention of intermediary variables after independent variables are imported into China".Exploring the motivation behind Japan’s South China Sea policy adjustment will help to better understand the impact of Japan’s diplomatic behavior.Next,this paper analyzes the impact of Japan’s South China Sea policy change from the perspective of Japan,China and the world.Domestically,this change will not only strengthen the degree of right deviation in Japan,but also make its foreign policy more and more offensive,but also impose a considerable burden on Japan’s domestic finance;For China,this transformation makes China face a more severe regional environment,creates obstacles to safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of the South China Sea and consumes China’s strategic resources;For the international community,it will make the maritime situation in East Asia tense and complicated,and hinder the process of ASEAN integration.The conclusion part of the article is the starting point of the multi-level actions analyzed in the previous article,which holds that in order to correctly handle China Japan relations and South China Sea affairs in the new era,China should establish a dialogue mechanism,and through this mechanism,communicate from multiple angles at the international and domestic levels around the relevant issues of the South China Sea to carry out overall control.In addition,we should also continue to deepen people to people and cultural exchanges,consolidate the social foundation of bilateral relations and improve mutual understanding.Only in this way can we build China Japan relations that meet the requirements of the new era.