China-Japan cooperation rests on shaky foundations

Subject

China-Japan relations.

Significance

A raft of new bilateral cooperation initiatives is underway following Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's recent visit to China, where he held his first bilateral summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping since the two leaders took office in 2012.

Impacts

• Tokyo views the US relationship as the most important and will avoid anything that would elicit a backlash from Trump.
• Relations in many areas are back to wary cooperation, as before the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands dispute flared up in 2010.
• Confrontation between ships in disputed waters will continue, keeping the potential for another crisis alive.