neighbors construe its actions, thus an unexpected event can always create a new wave of nationalism. Now that an understanding of the existing literature involving nationalism in China and Japan has been reached, it is important to understand what existing literature has to say on the politics, hot economics” characterization of Sino-Japanese “cold relations. In his essay, Li Mingjiang focuses on how economics” has prevented “hot “cold politics” from turning into politics”. This is a traditional way to look at the “freezing politics, hot economics” relationship and a fairly traditional view held by many “cold political realists. Good economic relations prevent poor political relations. This thesis will look at this relationship from the opposite angle: how politics” affects “cold “hot economics,” or more simply, does the political affect the economic?” Li states that “how there is a fear the political might affect the economic, but it is not the focus of the essay. The strength of Li’s essay comes in the form of explaining why politics” “cold exists between China and Japan and explaining how political events build off each other in each country. For instance, an increase in military spending in China may lead to Japan strengthening its defense agreement with the United States, or a visit of the Japanese prime minister to Yasukuni Shrine may be construed as a nationalist action by China. The problem with Li’s essay is that he accepts the general truth of politics, hot “cold economics” as a characterization of Sino-Japanese relations. This problem fundamentally stems from the fact that Li views economics as the factor that prevents bad political relationships, instead of looking at how politics affects economics. As a matter of fact, Li believes that a scenario of politics, cold economics” is unlikely, but in describing “cold this scenario, he describes what Sino-Japanese relations began to look like during the
neighbors construe its actions, thus an unexpected event can always create a new wave of nationalism. Now that an understanding of the existing literature involving nationalism in China and Japan has been reached, it is important to understand what existing literature has to say on the “cold politics, hot economics” characterization of Sino-Japanese relations. In his essay, Li Mingjiang focuses on how “hot economics” has prevented “cold politics” from turning into “freezing politics”. This is a traditional way to look at the “cold politics, hot economics” relationship and a fairly traditional view held by many political realists. Good economic relations prevent poor political relations. This thesis will look at this relationship from the opposite angle: how “cold politics” affects “hot economics,” or more simply, “how does the political affect the economic?” Li states that there is a fear the political might affect the economic, but it is not the focus of the essay. The strength of Li’s essay comes in the form of explaining why “cold politics” exists between China and Japan and explaining how political events build off each other in each country. For instance, an increase in military spending in China may lead to Japan strengthening its defense agreement with the United States, or a visit of the Japanese prime minister to Yasukuni Shrine may be construed as a nationalist action by China. The problem with Li’s essay is that he accepts the general truth of “cold politics, hot economics” as a characterization of Sino-Japanese relations. This problem fundamentally stems from the fact that Li views economics as the factor that prevents bad political relationships, instead of looking at how politics affects economics. As a matter of fact, Li believes that a scenario of “cold politics, cold economics” is unlikely, but in describing this scenario, he describes what Sino-Japanese relations began to look like during the
Cuilik%20Thesis.docx