151. Ascending China, Ascending Xenophobia? Understanding China's Anti-Japanese Sentiments.
- Author
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Yeh-Chung Lu
- Subjects
- *
XENOPHOBIA , *NATIONALISM , *POLITICAL leadership - Abstract
This paper employs the case of ChinaÂ’s recent anti-Japanese sentiments to answer: (1) What is the nature of ChinaÂ’s current nationalism? And (2) if it were not inherently xenophobic, how would the Chinese leadership deal with nationalistic sentiments toward Japan? The first part of this paper briefly depicts the nature of Chinese nationalism, attributing the emergence of radical nationalistic views to the CCPÂ’s patriotic education campaigns, economic development and commercialization, and technological advancement. Given that ChinaÂ’s recent antagonism toward Japan results from the history-related issues such as textbooks and interest-related UNSC issues, this paper contends that the nature of Chinese nationalism is not predetermined but lies in interactions between China and Japan. This paper further suggests that how the CCP manages these anti-Japanese sentiments is decisive to future Sino-Japanese relations. Nationalism helps the CCP in getting the upper hand in Sino-Japanese relations: on the one hand, the CCP co-opts and channels up anti-Japanese sentiments to deter JapanÂ’s political ambitions; on the other hand, as an authoritarian regime, the CCP is less than hesitant to oppress any radical movements considered as a threat to its party survival. In other words, by cooptation and oppression, it seems that the CCP astutely controls this double-edged nationalism. Thus, future Sino-Japanese relations depend not on the nature of Chinese nationalism but on the leadershipÂ’s cost-benefit calculations. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2006