Security Relations among China, Japan and Taiwan, 1995-2008

Abstract

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In the post-Cold War era, China, Japan and Taiwan entered the new phase of their relationship and were forced to reconsider their security and political dialogues. Despite of the US presence in East Asia, they are becoming more active players in the region, thus, shaping a regional “pseudo-strategic” triangle. The main focus in the research is security issues and concerns among the China, Japan and Taiwan in that period without active interference of the US. \r\nIn 2002, China and Japan celebrated thirty years of relations" normalization. However, some scholars are not optimistic about future intentions of both countries. Contemporary Chinese and Japanese diplomats try to rely on the friendship diplomacy; however, their efforts in an official level still are described as “a mirage of good relations.” Therefore, in the future, China and Japan will keep “equal-but-distant” relationship. On the contrary, even though Japan and Taiwan do not have official relations, however, they both are getting closer by intensifying “unofficial” channels of communication. \r\nOverall, one can see that China, Japan, and Taiwan are interested in peace and stability in the region; yet, it remains unclear, whether all of them mean the same thing by security and stability; therefore, this is an important question for future research and security studies of East Asian region.