The relationship between China and Japan spans thousands of years. Japan has deep historical and cultural ties with China; cultural contacts throughout its history have strongly influenced Japan—including its writing system, architecture, cuisine, culture, literature, religion, philosophy, and law. China, in return, has been deeply influenced by Japan. After the Meiji Restoration in 1868, the Empire of Japan embraced Westernization and saw the Qing dynasty as "non-Chinese", leading to the First Sino-Japanese War where Japan emerged victorious and gained control of Taiwan. In the 20th century, Japan pursued an increasingly expansionist policy towards China. In 1931, Japan invaded Manchuria, establishing the puppet state of Manchukuo, and invaded other parts of China in 1937, precipitating the Second Sino-Japanese War which was marked by numerous Japanese war crimes. Japan surrendered in 1945, leading China to regain all lost territories. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, relations were tense, with Japan continuing to recognize the Republic of China which had retreated to Taiwan, though informal ties with the PRC existed.
Japan normalized relations with the PRC in 1972 with the Japan–China Joint Communiqué, recognizing PRC as the only legitimate representative of China. The Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and China was signed in 1978. During this time, trade between the two nations grew significantly. Relations further improved when Emperor Akihito visited China in 1992 and Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama issued a statement in 1995 apologizing for Japan's actions during World War II. Ties between the two nations deteriorated after anti-Japanese demonstrations in 2005. The 21st century marked a changing balance of power between the two countries; Japan's economy stagnated following the Lost Decades that started in the 1990s, while China's economic and military power grew significantly after the beginning of reform and opening up in 1978. In 2010, China's economy overtook Japan's. Relations deteriorated in 2012, triggered by the Japanese government's purchase of the disputed Senkaku Islands from their private owner, which led to anti-Japanese protests. Relations started to improve in the late 2010s and early 2020s, but deteriorated in 2025 and 2026 after comments made by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi regarding a potential defense of Taiwan.
In contemporary times, China and Japan are among the world's largest economies and major trading partners, with bilateral trade reaching $322 billion in 2025; China has been Japan's largest trading partner since 2005. China is the largest source of tourists and foreign students to Japan. Despite strong economic ties, relations are strained due to geopolitical disputes, wartime history, and the dispute about the Senkaku (Diaoyu) Islands, which are administered by Japan but claimed by China. Additionally, Japan's security concerns over Taiwan, controversies over Japan's wartime actions including the Nanjing Massacre and Unit 731, visits by Japanese politicians to the Yasukuni Shrine, and differing historical narratives continue to fuel tensions. Public opinion surveys show that overwhelming majority of people in both countries have negative views of each other. While efforts have been made to improve relations, longstanding disagreements remain.
History Background
China and Japan are geographically separated only by a relatively narrow stretch of ocean. China has strongly influenced Japan with its writing system, architecture, culture, religion, philosophy, and law. For a long time, there was trade and cultural contacts between the Japanese court and the Chinese nobility.
When Western countries forced Japan to open trading in the mid-19th century, Japan moved towards modernization (Meiji Restoration). The Empire of Japan viewed the Qing dynasty as an antiquated, backwards civilization, unable to defend itself against Western forces in part due to the First and Second Opium Wars along with the Eight-Nation Alliance's involvement in suppressing the Boxer Rebellion.
During the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945), the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officially engaged in a "United Front" with the Nationalists (KMT) against Japan, but primarily utilized the period to expand its forces, military strength, and territorial control through guerrilla warfare. While engaging in selected, often limited battles, the CCP largely focused on behind-the-lines organization to prepare for post-war power struggles with Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist forces. Mao Zedong viewed the conflict as a way to weaken the KMT while strengthening the CCP's position for the inevitable civil war, which eventually came after the surrender of Japan in 1945 and ended with the CCP's victory in 1949 on mainland China.
As a result of Japanese war crimes during the Second Sino-Japanese War such as the Nanjing massacre and the Chinese view that Japan has not taken full responsibility for them, the bilateral relationship between China and Japan continues to be a sensitive issue in China.
After the establishment of the People's Republic of China Between 1949 and 1972, Japan–China relations were characterized as cold, with Japan heavily constrained by the U.S.–Japan security alliance, which mandated maintaining relations with Taipei (Taiwan) over Beijing. Despite this, private trade and cultural ties persisted under a "separation of politics and economics" (seikei bunri) policy, culminating in its normalization in 1972 following the U.S. rapprochement with China.
Meanwhile, during this period, socialist parties in Japan maintained ties with the ruling Chinese Communist Party. As the primary opposition to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) for decades, the Japanese Socialist Party (JSP) was known for its "neutralist" foreign policy and frequently sent delegations to China to build ties, often serving as a conduit for people-to-people diplomacy before the 1972 normalization. Meanwhile, anti-communist sentiment was running high in Japan, with ultranationalist conservatives outraged by these contacts, particularly with JSP leader Inejirō Asanuma for having portrayed the U.S. as Japan's main enemy during his trip to Communist China, eventually resulting in his assassination in October 1960.
In 1964, Mao Zedong issued a Statement Expressing the Chinese People's Support for the Japanese People's Great Patriotic Struggle.
In 1964, the Japanese government began allowing its citizens to visit the PRC. The next year, Japan became the single largest source of inbound tourists to the PRC.
Normalization In December 1971, the Chinese and Japanese trade liaison offices began to discuss the possibility of restoring diplomatic trade relations, and in July 1972, Kakuei Tanaka succeeded Eisaku Satō as the new Japanese Prime Minister. Tanaka assumed a normalization of the Sino–Japanese relations. Furthermore, the 1972 Nixon visit to China encouraged the normalization process. The normalization process was eased in part because PRC and Japan had maintained unofficial trade and people-to-people exchanges.
A visit by Tanaka to Beijing culminated in the signing the Japan–China Joint Communiqué on September 29, 1972, which normalized diplomatic relations between Japan and the PRC. Japan stated that it was aware of its responsibility for causing enormous damage to the Chinese people during World War II and China renounced its demand for war reparation from Japan. Avoiding political disputes over this traumatic history facilitated immediate strategic cooperation. The Japanese acknowledged but did not formally endorsed the Chinese view on the political status of Taiwan, namely "that Taiwan is an inalienable part of the territory of the People's Republic of China."
On 5 February 1973, China and Japan agreed to reestablish diplomatic relations. The Japan–China Friendship Parliamentarians' Union (JCFUP) was created in 1974 as a semi-official platform focused on dialogue and goodwill that acts as a crucial channel for diplomatic relations that promotes cultural exchanges, economic links and political understanding. A cross-party group of Japanese lawmakers, often led by the moderate Buddhist democratic party Kōmeitō would meet with high-level Chinese officials and the CCP's liaison department to smoothen relations and calm occasional political tensions even to the present day.
Negotiations for a Sino-Japanese peace and friendship treaty began in 1974, but soon broken off in September 1975. China insisted the anti-hegemony clause, which was directed at the Soviet Union, be included in the treaty. Japan objected the clause and did not wish to get involved in the Sino-Soviet split. Talks on the peace treaty were resumed in July 1978, and the agreement was reached in August on a compromise version of the anti-hegemony clause.(Article 2) “The Contracting Parties declare that neither of them should seek hegemony in the Asia-Pacific region or in any other region and that each is opposed to efforts by any other country or group of countries to establish such hegemony.” MOFA: Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and the People's Republic of China The Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and China was signed on August 12 and came into effect October 23, 1978, under the two leaders of Deng Xiaoping and Takeo Fukuda.
1980s
The 1980s were a high point of China–Japan relations, and Japan pursued a strategy of "Friendship Diplomacy" with China. The General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Hu Yaobang, visited Japan in November 1983, and Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone reciprocated by visiting China in March 1984.
Economic issues centered on Chinese complaints that the influx of Japanese products into China had produced a serious trade deficit for China. Nakasone and other Japanese leaders tried to relieve above concerns during visits to Beijing and in other talks with Chinese officials. They assured the Chinese of Japan's continued large-scale development and commercial assistance, and to obstruct any Sino-Soviet realignment against Japan. The two countries also concluded a bilateral investment treaty in 1988 after seven years of tough negotiation, where China finally agreed to grant Japanese investments with "national treatment".Hagström, Linus (2005) Japan's China Policy: A Relational Power Analysis, London and New York: Routledge http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415346795/. In the late 1980s, China and Japan began cooperation on environmental matters. After the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, Japan called the response "intolerable" and froze loans to China.Klien, S. Rethinking Japan's Identity and International Role: An Intercultural Perspective. Routledge, 2002. p. 89. .China rips US for halting arms flow, aiding dissident, Chicago Sun-Times, 8 June 1989.
1990s
In 1990, Japan became the first member of the G7 to restore high level relations with China. On 10 August 1991, Japanese Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu became the first among major developed Western countries to visit Beijing. On 6 April 1992, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Jiang Zemin visited Japan. In October 1992, Japanese emperor Akihito visited China, the first visit to China by a Japanese emperor. The visit marked a significant improvement in the relationship.
Relations were further improved when Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama visited China in May 1995, where he visited the Marco Polo Bridge and the Museum of the War of Chinese People's Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the first Japanese prime minister to do so. He also issued the Murayama Statement in August 1995, in which he apologised for the Japan's actions during World War II, an act that was highly appreciated in China. On 29 August, the Japanese government protested China's nuclear test and announced the freezing of government loan aid to China.