China and Japan: Territorial Conflict or Regional Cooperation?

Abstract

About some recent trends in economic and political relations between Japan and China. The opinions and conclusions of Western Russian and Japanese scholars with regard to the Chinese policy of Shinzo Abe government and Japanese aspects of Chinese foreign policy under Xi Jinping are considered. Special attention is paid to the ambiguous attitudes of both states to territorial conflicts and their strategy of exploration of islands in the open sea. Evident traces of “double standards“ can be revealed in the political declarations and actions of both countries. Controversies between China and Japan are dangerously aggravating especially with a prospect of strengthening China’s positions in the Asia-Pacific region. Nevertheless solving of territorial question will depend mainly on the outcome of economic rather than military competition between China and Japan.